In the name of God,


I want to talk about the most powerful figure in the world of Shia Islam, none other than Seyyed Ali Khamenei, whose decisions impact not only the Middle East but the entire world. If you're interested in how Seyyed Ali Khamenei's life unfolded from childhood to his rise to leadership, join me.


Seyyed Ali Khamenei was born in 1939 in the city of Mashhad. His father was a prominent cleric in Mashhad named Seyyed Javad Khamenei, and his mother, Khadijeh Mirdamadi, came from a family of clergy. From a young age, he learned a lot from his father and then, at the age of seven, he entered school. According to him, he was a very lazy student who didn't understand the lessons at all until he realized that his eyesight was very weak. In a memory, he recounts a day when he entered an optician's shop and tried on glasses one by one. When he put on one of them, he saw his surroundings so clearly and beautifully that he finally understood how many unique beauties the world had to offer.

After he got glasses, his academic progress began, and after completing his studies, he entered the seminary in Mashhad. 


It's important to explain what a seminary is to you, dear friends. A seminary is a religious educational institution where students engage in religious sciences so they can explain the Quran and Hadith to others and teach people about Islamic lifestyle. They study various subjects in the seminary.


After completing their studies, they engage in religious preaching and write religious books. Seyyed Ali was very clever and intelligent in his seminary studies, and he went to Qom to continue his education, becoming a student of Ayatollah Borujerdi and Imam Khomeini. However, he recalls that while he was studying religious sciences, his father fell ill. Since his father loved him dearly, he wanted him to take care of him. Seyyed Ali found himself at a crossroads between continuing his studies and caring for his father. He consulted one of his teachers, who advised him to go to his father, saying that if God intended to give him something, it would come to him in Mashhad. He believes that all his successes in life are due to his father's prayers.

Seyyed Ali Khamenei married Ms. Mansoureh Khajesteh at the age of 25, and they had six children: four sons and two daughters, who also study religious sciences and live in Qom. 


After his marriage, his political struggles against the Shah in Iran, led by Imam Khomeini, began. He was imprisoned and tortured several times by the SAVAK. In one of his memories, he recounts that in prison, to disrespect and humiliate them, they would shave their beards, which was a form of psychological torture for them, as the physical beatings had less of an impact.


After being imprisoned multiple times, he was exiled to a remote city. Even in exile, he did not cease his religious and political activities, and in that city, he carried out many cultural and developmental projects with the help of the people. He always refers to his wife as a patient and courageous woman, saying that when she visited him in prison, she never mentioned the troubles or illnesses of their children, providing him with strength in his struggle.

While he was in prison, he had a strange dream in which Imam Khomeini told him that he would become Joseph. He shared this dream with his mother, who interpreted it as a sign that he would end up in prison. Later, when he became the leader of the Shia world, he interpreted this dream differently.


After the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, he became the first Friday prayer leader of Tehran. Following the assassination of Mohammad Ali Rajai, he served as the President of Iran for eight years. After the passing of Imam Khomeini, the Assembly of Experts convened and elected him as the leader of the revolution and the successor to Imam Khomeini. He is now 86 years old and has been the leader of Iran and the Shia world for 36 years. He has limited powers and primarily addresses strategic issues, while the people and officials try to act based on his guidance. He enjoys significant popularity among young people in Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.


Please leave a comment and let me know what aspects of his life you would like to learn about so I can write about them in the next article.