wikishia:Featured articles/2026/10
Sayyid ʿAli Ḥusaynī Khāminiʼī (Persian: سید علی حسینی خامنهای) (b. 1939 - d. 2026) also known as "Ayatollah Khamenei", is among Shi'a Marja's and the second leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Before being elected as the leader in 1989, he was elected by the people twice and served as the third president of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He was also a member of parliament for a short period. He was also appointed as the imam of Friday Prayer (Imam al-Jumu'a) of Tehran by Imam Khomeini. Before the Islamic Revolution of Iran, he was among the active clerics in Mashhad.
Ayatollah Khamenei authored and translated some works. The most comprehensive ones he wrote are An Outline of Islamic Thought in the Quran and Sulh al-Hasan is his most famous translation. Moreover, his speeches have been compiled in a comprehensive work called Hadith-i wilayat. Several other books have also been collected and published based on his speeches and written messages on different topics.
His fatwa against insulting Sunnis' respected personalities is among his most famous and influential fatwas in the Islamic world. The concepts of "cultural invasion" and "Islamic awakening" have been adopted from his speeches and emphasis and entered Iranian political and social literature.
Ayatollah Khamenei is knowledgeable in literature and has composed some poems; his pen name is "Amin." Contemporary history is another field of his studies and interests.
Sayyid 'Ali was born on April 19, 1939, to a religious family in Mashhad. His father, Sayyid Javad Khamenei (d. 1986), was among the mujtahids and scholars of his time. He was born in Najaf, moved to Tabriz, and later, in 1918, moved again to Mashhad. After a while, he went back to Najaf and after completing his studies with great scholars such as Mirza Muhammad Husayn Na'ini, Sayyid Abu l-Hasan Isfahani and Aqa Diya' 'Iraqi and receiving his permission of ijtihad, returned to Iran and settled in Mashhad to the end of his life. He was the imam of Friday Prayer of Seddiqiha mosque in the Bazaar of Mashhad (Azerbaijaniha Mosque) while he taught different seminary topics. He was also among the imams of Congregational Prayer of the Grand Goharshad Mosque.
Khadija Mirdamadi (1914–1989), his mother, was a pious and zealot follower of the religion. She was knowledgeable in the Qur'an, hadiths, history, and literature........
Other featured articles: Imam Musa b. Ja'far al-Kazim (a) – Hadith al-Thaqalayn – Al-Sayyida Zaynab (a)