Teenage Years
He completed his early seminary education at the Soleiman Khan and Nawwab religious schools in Mashhad, studying under his father and other senior scholars.
According to the official biography, he finished the intermediate seminary curriculum in an exceptionally short time. His subjects included logic, philosophy, and Islamic jurisprudence.
This training prepared him for the work he would do for the rest of his life: reasoning through the law, teaching students, and explaining the religion in public.
He began advanced studies while still young, and in 1957 he traveled to Najaf in Iraq, drawn by the holy shrines and the lessons of the great scholars there.
He wanted to remain in Najaf, but returned to Iran when his father preferred that he continue his studies in Qom.
In Qom, from 1958 to 1964, he studied under some of the leading scholars of the age: Ayatollah Borujerdi, Imam Khomeini, Ayatollah Haeri Yazdi, and Allamah Tabatabai.
When his father lost sight in one eye, he left Qom and returned to Mashhad to care for him, continuing to study and teach there.
He later said that the decision to serve his father brought God's blessings into his life. Twice in these years he set aside his own preference, first for Najaf and then for Qom, out of duty to his parents.
He studied under Ayatollah Borujerdi, Imam Khomeini, Ayatollah Haeri Yazdi, and Allamah Tabatabai.
"The Holy Prophet (pbuh) stood firm and advanced in an astonishing manner."Ayatollah Khamenei, on Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)