Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei
Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei (Mashhad, 19 april 1939 – Teheran, 28 februari 2026), known as Ayatollah Khamenei, is the second leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a Shiite religious authority. Before the Islamic Revolution of Iran, he was a fighter against the Pahlavi regime and spent some time in prison and exile due to his revolutionary activities. After the formation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, he held important responsibilities, including two terms as president (1939-1989), a representative of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, and the Friday prayer leader of Tehran, and was elected as the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1989. Ayatollah Khamenei is interested in contemporary literature and history and writes poetry under the pen name "Amin". His valuable works include books such as "The Outline of Islamic Thought in the Quran", "The 250-Year-Old Man (Analysis of the Political Lives of Shiite Imams), "Ghina" (a lesson text outside of Ghina and Music) and Palestine based on his speeches and "The Outline of Islamic Thought in the Quran", "The Spirit of Monotheism, the Rejection of Slavery to Other Than God", and two translations of "The Peace of Imam Hassan" and "The Future in the Realm of Islam".
Education
Seyyid Ali Khamenei began his education at the age of four in a kindergarten, learning the Quran, and at the same time as he was in elementary school, he began learning to recite and recite the Quran in Mashhad. In the final years of elementary school, he also began his preliminary seminary education. After completing elementary school, he continued his religious studies at the Suleiman Khan School and completed his advanced studies at the Navab School. He also learned part of the preliminary and advanced studies from his father. Simultaneously with his seminary education, he also continued his high school education until the second year of high school.
In 1955, he attended Seyyid Mohammad Hadi Milani's foreign jurisprudence course, and in 1958, he went to Najaf on a short trip with his family and attended the Najaf Seminary courses, but due to his father's unwillingness to stay in that city, he returned to Mashhad and attended Ayatollah Milani's course for another year, and in 1959, he left for the Qom Seminary.
Teaching
Since his arrival in Mashhad, Seyyed Ali Khamenei has been teaching advanced levels of jurisprudence and principles (Risa'il, Makasib, and Kifayah) and has also held interpretation sessions for the general public. In 1968, he began teaching specialized interpretation sessions for religious students. These lessons and interpretation sessions continued until 1977, before his arrest and exile to Iranshahr. The interpretation sessions continued during the years of the presidency and after. After becoming the leader, in 1980, he began teaching external jurisprudence at Imam Khomeini's Husseiniyeh, and has so far taught the chapters of jihad, qisas, mahram makasib, and traveler's prayer.
Professors:
Seyyed Jalil Hosseini Sistani, Seyyed Javad Khamenei, Mirza Mohammad Modarres Yazdi, Hashem Qazvini, Seyyed Mohammad Hadi Milani, Seyyed Hossein Boroujerdi, Imam Khomeini, Morteza Haeri Yazdi, Seyyed Mohammad Mohaqiq Damad, and Allameh Tabatabaei were among Ayatollah Khamenei's professors. It is also reported that he briefly attended Mujtaba Qazvini's philosophy class.
Thoughts
Among the most important jurisprudential views of Ayatollah Khamenei are the prohibition of beatings, the prohibition of insulting the sanctities of the Sunnis, and the prohibition of using nuclear weapons. In the political arena, he considers the solution to the Palestinian issue to be a referendum and emphasizes resistance to the Zionist regime. He has also proposed the theory of resistance economics in the face of Western sanctions against Iran. Supporting the resistance front, confronting cultural aggression, and emphasizing the Jihad of Explanation are other key concepts in his thought.
Authorship and research:
A general outline of Islamic thought in the Quran;
From the depth of prayer;
A discourse on patience;
The four main books of the science of men;
Wilayat;
A report on the historical background and current situation of the Mashhad Seminary;
Biographies of the Shiite Imams (unpublished);
The True Leader;
Unity and factionalism;
Art from the perspective of Ayatollah Khamenei;
Understanding religion correctly;
The element of struggle in the life of the Imams (a.s.);
The spirit of monotheism, the denial of worship other than God;
The necessity of returning to the Quran;
The life of Imam Sajjad (a.s.);
Imam Reza (a.s.) and the guardianship;
Cultural invasion (compiled from the speeches and messages of the Most High);
The hadith of Wilayat (a collection of his messages and speeches, 9 volumes of which have been published so far).
Translated
The Peace of Imam Hassan (a.s.), written by Razi Al-Yasin;
The Future in the Realm of Islam, by Sayyid Qutb;
Muslims in the Indian Freedom Movement, by Abdul Muneem Nimri Nasri;
An Indictment Against Western Civilization, by Sayyid Qutb.
