Persian Realm

A photo of Ali Khamenei the current Supreme Leader of Iran when he was a young student attending religious studies in Mashad. (Year ?) 

Born to an Azerbaijani father and a Yazd-native mother in Mashhad, Ali Khamenei began religious studies before completing elementary education.

The son of a cleric, he is second eldest of eight children, and two of his brothers are also clerics. His younger brother, Hadi Khamenei, is a notable newspaper editor and cleric.

He attended religious studies classes at the rudimentary and advanced levels in the hawza of Mashhad, under his mentors such as Haj Sheikh Hashem Qazvini, and Ayatollah Milani, and then went to Najaf in 1957.After a short stay he left Najaf to Mashhad, and in 1958 he settled in Qom. Khamenei attended the classes of Ayatollahs Husain Borujerdi and Ruhollah Khomeini. Later, he was involved in the Islamic activities of 1963 which led to his arrest in the city of Birjand, in Southern Khorasan Province. Shortly thereafter, he was released and resumed teaching in Mashhad's religious schools and mosques, teaching the Nahj al-Balagheh.

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