Report on the unveiling of the book "Sangar-e Towfiq"

Maryam Asadi Jafari
Translated by Mandana Karimi

2025-11-5

According to Iranian Oral History website, the unveiling ceremony of the book "Sangar-e Towfiq (The trench of victory)", which includes the oral history of Towfiq Mosque during the Islamic Revolution and the Holy Defense, was held on Monday evening, October 27, 2025, at Towfiq Mosque, thanks to the efforts of the Foundation for the Preservation of Monuments and the Propagation of the Values ​​of the Holy Defense.

Mohammad Ghasemipour, an oral history researcher, stated at the beginning of the ceremony: "Due to years of activity in the field of Holy Defense research, I have been suggesting the topic of mosque research and identifying influential mosques in past decades to researchers, and I have emphasized that the role of mosques in historical events should be explained and explained, and its practical and brilliant examples should be introduced to new generations. I am glad that a young man from the third and fourth generations of the revolution, who is in his third decade of life, has sought to recognize this fact and has tried to define the bastion under the title of Towfiq Mosque for his contemporaries and all readers and those interested in the history of the revolution. I read the book "Oral History of Towfiq Mosque". The book has 18 narrators with whom the researcher sat down to talk and narrated their memories and the story of the mosque from the years leading up to the Islamic Revolution and the Holy Defense. These people have witnessed historical and political events and have spoken about the role played by the mosque in various events. The Holy Defense section in the book is much more prominent, and this shows the author's attention and interest in this historical period. The book has more than 90 pages of documents and images related to the history of the mosque, which are self-explanatory, and the sincerity of the children of the mosque is evident in these images. This is a start so that we can produce a few more works observing the activities surrounding the mosque. For example, the mosque had a singing group called “Red Tulips of the Revolution” and I would like to get to know its members. They played a role in encouraging and motivating the fighters by performing the song, and 20 of them were martyred. Why should not we have an oral history of the survivors of this singing group? I had heard the name of your mosque before from the book “Koocheh-ye naghash-ha (Painters’ Alley),” and the late Kazemi, in his pleasant, sincere, and honest narration, had motivated readers to see this mosque. But the book “Oral History of Towfiq Mosque” has narrated the path taken by this mosque.

Then, “Javad Kashani,” a veteran of the war era and one of the narrators of the book “Sangar-e Towfiq,” reminisced and said: “I spent my childhood in this neighborhood, and tonight I felt it necessary to remember the elders of this neighborhood, such as Hajj Mashallah Abdullah, under whose mourning sites we grew up. His house was on Sadr al-Ashraf Street and the Imam Hussein mourning site, and he himself worked as a servant. I can say with confidence that these martyrs are the fruit of the tears that have been shed in this neighborhood and mosque. Each of these martyrs was a dear friend, and some, like Martyr Alireza Mossadegh, were the only son of the family. I was close to him for a while. I remember that our last trip to Tehran was for the Fatimid Mourning Days. He was very keen that during the Fatimid Mourning Days, he definitely participate in mourning ceremonies of Hazrat Zahra. So, we got permission to stay in Tehran for two or three days, and then we returned individually to the division’s tactical headquarters and went for Operation Wal-Fajr 8.

This martyr told me that in my will, I had written that I should be given 5,000 Tomans as a reward for my atrocities, and he described it to me as follows: “I served at a checkpoint in Handijan - it goes without saying that I would go to irregular wars with children. However, he had served in the gendarmerie - and I was doing the logistics of the outpost. The soldiers who went on patrol would bring watermelons with them. One night I said, I want to come with you on patrol. I saw that they were stopping trucks carrying watermelons and taking them from the drivers. I saw that this was not pleasant for me and I just realized what they were doing. I thought they were buying watermelons.”

Sardar Abbas Bayrami, head of the Sacred Defense Documents and Records Organization, also explained the activities of the Foundation for the Preservation of Monuments and the Propagation of Sacred Defense Values: “The idea of ​​writing this book was part of the programs of the Sacred Defense Documents and Records Organization. We published more than 5,000 titles of oral history and memoirs in the country, of which nearly 600 are oral history books. These works were generally person-centered. Here, our topic was this great mosque, and I think it is a good topic for future programs. A mosque that was a haven for revolutionaries before the revolution and was one of the most epic and best in Tehran during the Holy Defense. The Maysam and Muslim Ibn Aqil battalions emerged from this mosque, and the result of the training of this mosque has been the dedication of 67 martyrs, hundreds of fighters and veterans, and now, dozens of influential elite in the military, scientific, and executive fields. I think this mosque has fulfilled its revolutionary duty, but the work is not over yet. We started this project in March 2024 and Mashhoud Goodarzinejad entered this work with motivation. We interviewed 18 of the best. We conducted more than 40 hours of interviews with members of the board of trustees, elders of the mosque, veterans, commanders, warriors, and families of martyrs. Dozens of other books about this mosque are possible, and we hope that this will not stop there, and that in the future, we will see good and valuable works from this mosque and neighborhood. Another book titled "Mardan-e Khaneh-ye man (Men of My House)" about the martyrs Mahdi and Mohammad Ali Jaberi, from the mother of the martyrs, was written with the help of Narrated Fatah Publications, and I recommend that those who have a heart for martyrs read this book.

At the end of this ceremony, the book "Sangar-e Towfiq" was unveiled and the families of the martyrs and veterans of the Sacred Defense were honored.