Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in an address to a gathering of the reciters of the Holy Qur’an on Sunday, which marked the first day of the auspicious month of Ramadan, Tasnim News Agency reported.

The Leader described the Holy fasting month of Ramadan as being the month of a divine banquet and God’s infinite mercy.

He explained that purifying one’s heart and reciting the Holy Qur’an with a fondness and contemplation to gain an understanding are important factors in benefiting from this divine banquet.

Ayatollah Khamenei noted that participating in God’s divine banquet requires effort and determination to accept the divine invitation.

“If we succeed in participating in this divine banquet, we will be served exceptionally well by having the opportunity to get closer to God. And nothing is better than this.”

Commenting on the blessings and opportunities presented due to the religious deeds performed in this blessed month, the Leader said, “These blessings are in fact a unique opportunity for getting closer to God. Therefore, we should ask God humbly and beseechingly to help us grasp this opportunity and avoid sins.”

Citing verses from the Holy Qur’an, Ayatollah Khamenei stated that “Dhikr” (Remembering) is one of the auspicious names of the Heavenly Book, and this is the opposite of “negligence”, which is truly a grave tragedy.

He also added, “Continuous recitation of the Holy Qur’an and a feeling of fondness for it help us establish a closer relationship with God.”

The Leader then described the Holy Qur’an as the eternal miracle of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and said, “In all periods of human history, the Qur’an has provided humanity with the necessary teachings in the vast scenes of individual, familial, spiritual and governmental aspects of life and all other facets of life.”

He emphasized that learning, deliberation and gaining an understanding are the secrets to benefiting from the deep, esoteric and lofty teachings of the Qur’an, Khamenei.ir reported.

“The prerequisite to benefiting from these teachings is to purify one’s heart and soul, and this is much easier during one’s youth,” the Leader added.

Expressing his satisfaction with the abundance of outstanding and excellent reciters of the Qur’an in the country, the Leader associated this blessing with the victory of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and noted, “Today, our reciters recite the Holy Qur’an in a much better way and with a higher quality than many of the other countries’ reciters, some of whom are even invited to Iran at times as teachers. This is an honorable reality.”

“Of course, we should not think that this matter is over. We should continue to advance and correct the shortcomings. Whenever one thinks that the path has been traveled completely, this is the starting point for one’s decline. This is my advice to all activists including writers, poets and students in seminaries,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

The Leader described the recitation of the Qur’an as being a divine art, stressing that this art must be at the service of remembering and inviting people to God.

Furthermore, he said, “reciting the Qur’an must be carried out in such a way that the audience’s faith increases. Therefore, reciting the Qur’an should not be viewed as a mere art.”

Turning to “designing one’s recitation”, the Leader said it means that “you must choose an appropriate tone that influences the audience and encourages them to obey God’s words”.

Ayatollah Khamenei described the activities involving the Qur’an in Iran as being “good, but not enough”.

He said to expand these activities, mosques in every neighborhood must be turned into Qur’anic centers, adding interactions among mosques in the same neighborhood and organizing Qur’anic meetings and competitions are the best ways to encourage teenagers and the youth to enter into Qur’anic activities and, in particular, to train people in memorizing the Qur’an.

“The way to train 10 million memorizers of the Qur’an, as I mentioned a few years ago, is to involve young people in Qur’anic activities. Such projects can help this come about,” Ayatollah Khamenei concluded.