In a note published by the Leader’s office on Sunday, he wrote, “Send my regards to the writer… and also thank the writer and the publisher.”

The leader called the novel “a strong and highly compelling historical love story”, which “has been well produced.”

Written by Salman Kadivar, the novel was first published in 2019 by Shahrestane Adab.

The novel begins with the imamate of Imam Ali (AS), which led to the Ashura uprising. 

In this novel, Kadivar intends to answer this question, “Why was Imam Hussein (AS) killed?”

The novel uncovers the evil plots developed by Muawiah to maintain his government in Damascus.    

He takes the readers to alleys in Damascus, which were once under the Romans’ rule, and now the Umayyads treat the same as the Romans did in the name of Islam.

The novel also explains the endeavors the Umayyad pursued to keep people away from the teachings of pure Islam, which had been replaced with an Umayyad version of Islam.

The novel illustrates the roots of the deviation from pure Islam, which resulted in the killing of Imam Hussein (AS), a grandchild of the Prophet Muhammad (S).  

“Twenty Years Later” won an honorable mention from the Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Awards, Iran’s most lucrative literary prize.

It also was honored at the Golden Pen Awards, which is organized every year by the Iran Pen Association.

The fifth edition of the novel has recently been published.

Ayatollah Khamenei has written commendations for many books before. One of the latest examples is for “The Sun’s House”, which contains reports on the restoration of the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad.

The book, which also contains photos of the restorations and refurbishments carried out on the religious site in 2020, has been published by the Astan Qods Razavi.

The commendation was unveiled in July during a ceremony organized by the Astan Qods Razavi to acknowledge those involved in the restoration project and writing the book.

Source:Tehran Times