He intended to go to the Islamic Seminary of Qom to continue his studies. He went to his father to get his permission. Sayyed Ali Khamenei had consulted with seminarians who had come to Mashhad for the ziyarah of Imam al-Ridha, peace be upon him; he had seen the scientific atmosphere of the seminary of Qom suitable for completing his studies. His father did not agree with him going to Qom.
Haj Sayyed Javad was not the only person who was against his migration to Qom. Ayatollah Milani and some of his friends were also against his decision and tried a lot to dissuade him. Even Sayyed Jalaluddin Ashtiani, who had studied fiqh (jurisprudence) and Usul (principles of jurisprudence) for 16 years in the seminary of Qom and two years in the seminary of Najaf and had recently moved to Mashhad, asked Sayyed Ali Khamenei to stay. None of them worked. His insistence and his father’s disagreement continued for months; until when Ayatollah Sayyed Javad Khamenei agreed to his son’s migration to Qom. This was in the year 1958.
Sayyed Ali Khamenei moved to Qom in 1958. In the same and before moving to Qom, Ayatollah Milani gave him a permission letter for narrating. Before him, his brother Sayyed Mohammad had moved to the Islamic seminary of Qom in 1956 and had settled in Hojjatieh Seminary. Sayyed Ali settled in room number 85 of the same school. He stayed in the same room until the end of his studies in the seminary of Qom.
Choosing the Teacher
He first went to every class of the scholars who taught Dars al-kharij (post-graduate studies) and tasted their scientific approach. Ayatollah Boroujerdi’s class was more public; all students, young and old, learned and unlearned were eager to attend his class. Among the other classes of Dars al-Khari was the class of Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani in Mosque Imam with seven or eight students, the class of Ayatollah Sayyed Kazem Shariatmadari in Hojjatieh Seminary with thirty to 40 Azerbaijani students and, the class of Sayyed Ruhollah Khomeyni in Salmasi Mosque with more than 400 students.
The class of Shaykh Abbasali Shahroudi was also welcomed by the youth. He taught simple and fluently; he had quite a lot of students. Fewer people attended compared to the class of Shaykh Mortaza Haeri. We should also mention the class of Shaykh Mohammad-Ali Araki.
Haj Shaykh Mortaza Haeri
Among the classes of Qom, what made Sayyed Ali Khamenei satisfied, was the class of Sayyed Ruhollah and Haj Shaykh Mortaza. He also attended the classes of Ayatollah Boroujerdi until some time before his death. Other than these, he attended the usul class of Mohaqqeq Damad. However, the classes of Ayatollah Haeri were more beneficial for Sayyed Ali, even though they were short and limited.
Sayyed Khamenei also pursued the jurisprudential discussions with Imam Khomeyni; even though at the beginning he would attend his usul classes and would take notes. He also attended Ayatollah Kashmiri’s session for one year, which he held at his house due to the Request of some scholars of Qom.
He used to attend four classes regularly; he also had two discussions every day. This time spent learning took him away from some of the worldly attachments that he had brought from Mashhad. He spent all his time swimming in the ocean of fiqh and usul. He used to study until past midnight.
Alongside Jurisprudence
His familiarity with social and political issues which had started in Mashhad, grew day by day when he went to Qom. Newspapers such as “Maktab-e Tashayyo’” (the Shi’ah school of thought) was a new phenomenon which he became familiar with. He used to get it, read it and also encourage others to read it; he was friends with its’ staff. He did not let go of Maktab-e Eslam. He also did not miss the books which would come to the seminarians and the Islamic seminary and were among the new intellectual ones.
His periodic trips to Tehran were somehow related to new social issues. He was in Tehran in May 1961. He got to know the teachers’ strikes in the Mehregan club. He participated in street protests and for the lecture of Jalaluddin Homaei in Dar al-Funoun Seminary.
When Shaykh Beheshti established English classes in Qom and invited thirty of the diligent and educated seminarians to attend the classes; Sayyed Ali Khamenei was among them.
On holidays, poetry would come to Sayyed Ali. Sayyed Khamenei used to teach the learned lessons from the beginning of his seminary studies. He did not leave teaching when he was in Mashhad, when he went to Qom and when he went back to Mashhad again. In Qom, he mostly taught Sharh al-Lum’ah and sometimes Qawanin.
Teaching Contemporary Arabic
Attending Dars al-Khari was not all his scientific career. He decided to learn Modern Standard Arabic and its writing, more than what the seminarians usually learn. Karam, who was an educated student from Khuzestan and was aware of contemporary Arabic literature, said yes to Sayyed Ali Khamenei. The Arabic teaching sessions were held on the mornings of Thursdays and Fridays. In these sessions which were held as workshops, new books of the Arab world were discussed. The outcome of these sessions for Sayyed Khamenei was the translation of the book “Dam’ah wa Ibtisamah” by the Lebanese writer and poet Gibran Khalil Gibran. The translation which was named “Ashk-o-Labkhand” (Tears and Laughter) was never published since it was published earlier by another translator.
Teaching Philosophy
Among his other scientific sessions was attending classes of the book “Asfar” by Mulla Sadra and “The Book of Healing” by Avicenna which were both taught by Allamah Sayyed Mohammad-Hoseyn Tabatabaei. He learned parts of these two books from Allamah Tabatabaei; he also attended the class of Hoseyn-Ali Montazaei who taught “Isharat.”
At that time, the highest stipend (the monthly payment for the seminarians) was paid by Ayatollah Boroujerdi. He gave thirty tomans to the students of dars al-kharij who were single and sixty tomans to the married. Receiving the stipend was due to a test that was taken in the library of Feyziyeh Seminary and its neighboring room. Sayyed Ali Khamenei who had attended dars al-kharij in Mashhad for two years and a half Registered for the test.
They determined a part of “Makasib” and a part of “Kifayah” to take a test. These two parts were already in his mind. He got more ready with a review. Lotfollah Safi soon found out that he is a very talented student. He said that’s enough, but the other tester “said no to read and translate… I translated very well. Then they asked me to write one of Ayatollah Boroujerdi’s lessons.
At that time Ayatollah Boroujerdi used to teach “Kitab al-Taharah.” He went to the entrance of the room next to the library of Feyziyeh Seminary and wrote down the new lesson of Ayatollah Boroujerdi; he wrote it in Arabic. When the supervisors saw Sayyed Ali’s writings, they asked them to bring all the writings of Ayatollah Boroujerdi’s class. He brought them; they took the notebook to show it to the great Marja’ (source of emulation) of Shi’ahs of the world. It was a notebook well written, without any scratches, very neat and eye-catching. “I’ll remember now if they gave me back the notebook or not… {if it’s there} it should be among the old papers.” That is how the thirty toman stipend of Ayatollah Boroujerdi rescued the hard life of Sayyed Ali Khamenei. This thirty tomans and the sixty to seventy tomans of his father, which was not always on time, was all he had to bring the month to an end.
Student-Life Tables
His living conditions were hard and breathtaking like many other seminarians. His fellow students say that what was eaten was no more than bread, yogurt, and cucumbers, or bread and cheese and grapes, and sometimes eggs and potatoes; even the cost of these was not covered. Some of the students of Hojjatieh Seminary such as Sayyed Ali were in debt to the grocery store and the baker.
The normal food of the Khamenei brothers (Sayyed Mohammad and Sayyed Ali) was eggs when they were together in Hojjatieh Seminary. They scrambled the eggs in a hot pan without oil and ate it. Cooking oil was expensive; it was not possible to put it next to other food. Another food was bread and butter which was sometimes accompanied by jam. They rarely cooked anything and if they did it was nothing more than “Mashpolo” (mung beans and rice mixed). “This was the best and most honorable food we could invite some guests for.”
One of his guests was Sayyed Mostafa Khomeyni who would also bring with him some other people as well. Sayyed Ali remembers when they even had tas kebab (roasted kebabs) a few times.
The stipend of Imam Khomeyni
With the demise of Ayatollah Boroujerdi and the cut of his monthly pays, the stipend of Imam Khomeyni replaced it. This was true evidence of people’s reference to him as a Marja’. One week after the demise of Ayatollah Boroujerdi, the permission letters of Imam Khomeyni in religious issues were issued. The first permission letter was given to Sayyed Sajjad Hojajji on April 6, 1961; ten days later it was also given to Sadeq Ehsanbakhsh and Sayyed Hashem Rasouli-Mahallati, etc. he granted 28 permission letters in 1961 CE 11 permissions in 1962 CE and ten permissions in the same year before his arrest. Overall, he sent 49 of these letters to his representatives.
One day in the evening, the Khamenei brothers were sitting in their room when Shaykh Hasan Sanei entered. They did not know why their close friend who used to chat with them sat very respectfully in front of them holding his hands in his pocket. Shaykh Hasan took out his hands from his pocket and gave each one of them some money. When they asked the reason, he said: HajAgha (Imam Khomeyni) gave it.
Imam’s stipend was private; it was not for everyone yet. In the absence of the monthly stipend of Ayatollah Boroujerdi, the stipend of Ayatollah Golpaygani and Shariatmadari helped Sayyed Ali in his expenses. However, the payment of stipend was done with the order and discipline of Ayatollah Boroujerdi’s office. Ayatollah Mar’ashi-Najafi would give bread seals.
Philosophy a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school More (Definitions, Synonyms, Translation)
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