Alongside his Arabic studies at the seminary, he also registered for high school to complete his secondary education. His father was against his children studying in the new educational system. At that time, Dar al-Ta’lim Dianati elementary school did not give a certificate for grade six; it did not have official permission for it. He passed the exams for grade six and got his degree. He studied up to middle school on his own for two years but did not continue. The life of Sayyed Ali in the seminary of Mashhad started when ten years was passed its reconstruction; a school which had almost been closed after the bloody incident at Goharshad Mosque.
Sayyed Ali started his seminary studies at Soleyman Khan School. The head of the school was Shaykh Hoseyn Bajestani who was appointed by Mr. Kafaei. The school, which was kept open by the measures of Mirza Ahmad Ayatollahzadeh Khorasani (Kafaei) at the time of Reza Shah, became one of the factors of strengthening the seminary of Mashhad in the forties. Nevertheless, the efforts of two great scholars of the time, Haj Shaykh Mortaza Ashtiani and Agha Mirza Mahdi Esfahani was unique in the boom of the seminary of Mashhad.
He studied the last parts of the book “Jami’ al-Muqaddamah,” meaning “Sharh al-Anmudhaj” and “Samadiyyah” with Mr. Alavi who was a student of medicine. Then, as others, he studied the book “Suyouti” which consolidated the previous Arabic studies with Mr. Masoudi; he also learned parts of al-Muqni with him.
Starting Sath (intermediate level of seminary)
Alongside studying these two books, he went to Navvab School to continue his studies. His brother, Sayyed Mohammad had a room in the school. He started the book “al-Ma’alim” which is the first book of usul al-fiqh (principles of jurisprudence) in Navvab School. The teacher of “al-Ma’alim” was his father’s friend, Sayyed Jalil Hoseyni-Sistani. He studied half of “al-Ma’alim al-Usul” with him. With the suggestion of his father, he started the book “Sharayi’ al-Islam” with him and continued until the eighth section of “Ibadat” (Acts of Worship), which is Hajj. Then he studied “al-Lum’ah” with his father along with his brother, Sayyed Mohammad, to study a complete course of Shia fiqh (jurisprudence). He learned forty chapters with his father and gained familiarity with the fundamentals of jurisprudence. He studied the remaining chapters with Ayatollah Mirza Ahmad Modarres-Yazdi.
The Martyrdom of Navvab Safavi
After finishing Sharh al-Lum’ah, he studied most of Rasa’il, Makasib and Kifayah with Haj Shaykh Hashem Qazvini, one who is known for his great teachings. It was in mid-January when the news of Navvab Safavi’s martyrdom reached Mashhad. He was in Navvab School at that time. Sayyed Ali and his fellow students were going back and forth from anger to sadness; they were shocked.
The news of the execution of Navvab and his friends was not welcomed in Mashhad. It was more than two years passed the 1953 Iranian coup d’état. There was only the call of a few seminary students who did not go any further than Navvab School, and the calls of Haj Shaykh Hashem Qazvini coming from Mashhad.
Starting Dars al-Kharij (Postgraduate Classes)
At this time (1955) it was a year passed the coming of Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad-Hadi Milani and his stay in Mashhad. Also, it was about nine years that the seminary of Mashhad felt the absence of Haj Shaykh Mortaza Ashtiani and Mirza Mahdi Gharavi-Esfahani in dars al-kharij (the highest level of seminary studies). The presence of Ayatollah Milani gave a new educational sense to the seminary of Mashhad. Sayyed Ali Khamenei attended the class of dars al-kharij by Ayatollah Milani. At that time, there was not anyone starting dars al-kharij at that age; “I attended it due to the blessings of my father.” Sayyed Ali Khamenei attended the class of usul for one year and the class of dars al-kharij of Ayatollah Milani for two and a half years.
The First Political Action
It was a year passed the start of his dars al-kharij when he experienced the first political actions that we can call a warm-up action compared to the fifties. This action was rooted in his unforgettable love for Navvab Safavi.
A friend of Navvab, Abbas Ghalezari, the head of Qaem school and the reporter of “Neda-ye Haqq” came to Mashhad in 1956. Sayyed Ja’far Shobeyri-Zanjani came along with him, who got friends with Sayyed Ali through Hadi Abdekhodaei. Ghalezari narrated many stories about Navvab’s life, efforts, conduct and commutes; he made Sayyed Ali’s love stronger.
Muharram was coming. The movie theatres of Mashhad would close for two months of Muharram and Safar. The new governor, Sayyed Mahdi Farrokh announced that the movie theatres are only closed until the 14th of Muharram. When the experienced statesman heard oppositions against his decisions, he added a few days to the closure of the movie theatres. This change was not convincing for those who had found a chance to express their opposition. “We came together and wrote a manifesto which included a hadith from “Nahj al-Balaghah” (The Peak of Eloquence) ‘All the good and jihad done for the sake of God is like a blow to a vast stormy sea.’ They were written in hands. It would take three hours to write every manifesto. It encouraged people in doing good and forbidding evil.”
Other than Sayyed Ali, Shobeyri-Zanjani, Hadi Abdekhodaei, Abbas Ghalezari, Vahid Damghani and one or two others, shaped the group “Kateb.” Letters were written with different writing so that the writers would not be recognized. They sent the letters through different post offices for the new governor, Farrokh. Very soon Farrokh Barandideh recognized the senders of the letters and reduced the 58-day closure of movie theatres to twenty days.
Learning Philosophy
The seminary of Mashhad, which was overwhelmed with an anti-philosophy atmosphere, made Sayyed Ali learn more about these types of thoughts other than his dars al-kharij; therefore, he attended the classes of Haj Mirza Javad Tehrani. Ayatollah Mirza Javad Tehrani who was influenced by the teachings of Mirza Mahdi Gharavi-Esfahani had a criticism regarding the book “al-Mandhumah” by Haj Mulla Hadi Sabzevari in his sessions. Sayyed Ali attended private sessions of Agha Shaykh Seyfollah Ayesi, to better understand the thoughts of the philosophers.
Agha Khamenei also attended the classes of Haj Shaykh Mojtaba Qazvini for a short while. Even though he was against philosophy, but he taught logic and philosophy; he had special thoughts on philosophical problems.
Teaching
Sayyed Ali Khamenei’s studies in Mashhad was ending. He finished earlier than his classmates. In this period, Sayyed Ali started teaching along with his learning; from the time he finished school, he always had some teaching due to the methods of seminary and also his love for it. Even though he started his teaching by presenting “Amthilah” and “Sarf-e Mir” to two fellow-citizen reciters, but it gradually became official and the students of the seminary gathered around him. After finishing “Jami’ al-Muqaddamah,” he started teaching Suyouti and then al-Muqni. He gained mastery in teaching “Jawahir al-Balaghah,” which was taught in Mashhad instead of “al-Mutawwal.”
A Journey in the World of Novels
Sayyed Ali, in the five years and a half of his preliminary studies and sath, also had other activities such as sports and reading poems and miscellaneous books. He had more limited entertainment than his peers. Even though his love of spirituality would limit him to being in the groups of seminary students and having discussions, but he loved mountain climbing; he would cancel his discussions to get to the summits around Mashhad.
Even though he used to read the newspapers of that time, “Nour-e Danesh” (The Light of Knowledge) and “Neda-ye Haqq” (The Call of Truth) published by Sayyed Hasan Adnani and “Moslemin” (Muslims) published by Haj Mahdi Seraj Ansari, and had also seen and read historical books such as “Habib al-Sayr” and “Rawdhah al-Safa,” but novels were a new world which surprised him. His father’s bookshelf was full of books that Sayyed Ali used in his studies, but there were no novels among them. There was a small bookstore near his house, from which he would borrow such books, read and hand them back. The shrine’s library was also a blessing for those who did not have the money to buy books.
From the time Sayyed Ali Khamenei started his jurisprudence studies at the end of Sath and the beginning of Dars al-Kharij, his tendency towards novels reduced but it did not finish. At that time, which lasted almost five years, “There was almost no novel that I didn’t read.” He said that he possibly has read more than a thousand novels in Mashhad before he moved to Qom.
The World of Poems
His familiarity with poems and his delightful poetry was revealed at this time. However, the flow of the poems of Hafez read by his mother incited his hidden emotions towards poems and music from his childhood. Books of poetry were among his must-read books. He also liked the books about different styles of poetry; he would read them. When he wrote his first poem, he used the name “Nasim” meaning ‘Breeze’ for his poetry.
Sayyed Ali Khamenei gained familiarity with Arabic poems through his books of seminary, especially “al-Mutawwal.” He also got to know Gholamreza Qodsi-Mirzajani known as Qodsinejad and through him, he went to Negarandeh Literature Forum known as Ferdowsi. His familiarity with Qodsinejad goes back to the events of the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry. At that time, Qodsinejad used to give lectures at anti-British gatherings. This was a friendship that lasted until Qodsinejad’s death in 1989.
His familiarity with the students of seminary who were poem lovers such as Mohammad-Reza Hakimi, Mohammad-Reza Shafiei-Kadkani and Zabihollah Sahebkar was from that time. They were all studying in Navvab School. He also got to know Ne’matollah Mirzazadeh, Ahmad Kamalpour, Mohammad Qahreman and Ali Baqerzadeh in the next years and grew over time.
Another forum that Sayyed Ali used to attend was the Farrokh Literature Forum. The forum, which was established by Sayyed Mahmoud Farrokh was a place where people such as Shaykh AghaBozorg Tehrani, Abdolhoseyn Zarrinkoub, Sayyed Mohammad-Hoseyn Shahriar, Mohammad-Ebrahim Bastani-Parizi, Eraj Afshar and Sayyed Karim Amiri-Firouzkouhi would attend. Also, among the Khorasanis who lived in Tehran were Malek al-Sho’ara Bahar, Mahdi Akhavan-Sales and Esmaeil Khoei would attend the forum whenever they would come to Mashhad.
A Trip to Iraq
Banu Khadijeh Mirdamadi, after a few trips to Iraq to visit relatives and perform ziyarah of the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them, this time she headed towards her birthplace, Najaf in 1957. Sayyed AI and her younger son, Sayyed Mohammad-Hasan, who was six years old, accompanied her. Also, Banu Khadijeh’s stepmother who was the second wife of Ayatollah Haj Sayyed Hashem Najafabadi, and their two daughters who were Sayyed Ali’s aunts accompanied them. Sayyed Ali visited Najaf not to stay and study, rather to perform ziyarah; but he learned about the scientific aspects of the seminary of Najaf and got interested in staying and studying in Najaf. He got affected by the warmth of the scientific gatherings of Najaf when he attended the classes. He attended classes of scholars such as Sayyed Mohsen al-Hakim, Sayyed Abolqasem Khoei, Sayyed Mahmoud Shahroudi, Mirza Baqer Zanjani, Mirza Hasan Yazdi, Sayyed Yahya Yazdi and Mirza Hasan Bojnourdi and gained familiarity with their method of study.
He was eager to learn about the teaching method of Haj Sayyed Abdolhadi Shirazi, but he was sick at that time and did not teach. He also could not attend the classes of Mirza Agha Estahbani and Shaykh Husayn al-Hilli. He also found the class of Ayatollah Sayyed Mahmoud Shahroudi so complicated and difficult which made students confused. “He would speak quietly; his voice couldn’t be heard… [But] some understood what he said; I didn’t.”
Sayyed Ali wrote a letter to his father to ask his permission to stay and study in Najaf. His father’s response was a no; therefore, he went back to Iran after two months of tasting the flavour of usul and jurisprudence classes of the seminary of Najaf.
Trip a journey for some purpose (usually including the return) More (Definitions, Synonyms, Translation)
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