Khamenei family

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Khamenei family
Khamenei Family.jpg
Ali Khamenei (left) and Mojtaba Khamenei (right)
Parent family Banu Hashim
Country
Place of origin Khameneh, Iran
Founded7 December 1895;130 years ago (1895-12-07)
Founder Javad Khamenei
Current head Mojtaba Khamenei
Titles Supreme Leader of Iran
Style(s) Seyyed
Traditions Twelver Shia Islam
Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad Khamenei & Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei (cropped).jpg
Ali Khamenei (left) and his brother Mohammad
The four sons of Ali Khamenei.jpg
The four sons of Ali Khamenei, from left to right: Mostafa, Mojtaba, Masoud and Meysam

The Khamenei family [a] is an Iranian religious and political family that has ruled Iran since Ali Khamenei was elected supreme leader of Iran in 1989. After his assassination in February 2026, he was succeeded by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei. [3] Their predecessors as the family were the Khomeini family, who held power under the supreme leadership of Ruhollah Khomeini from 1979 to 1989.[ citation needed ]

Contents

The Khamenei family has played a prominent role in Iranian politics since the 1980s after Ali Khamenei became president of Iran in 1981. The family is of Iranian Azerbaijani and Persian [b] origin and claim to be Sayyids, descended from Ali al-Sajjad, the fourth Shia Imam. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] Ali Khamenei, the second supreme leader of Iran, [14] [15] was the most powerful member of the family [16] until his assassination on 28 February 2026. [17]

Ancestry

Ali Khamenei's father was the cleric Javad Khamenei, [14] [18] [19] [20] [21] and his paternal grandfather was Hussein, [22] who was buried in Najaf, Iraq (in the Wadi-us-Salaam cemetery). [23] Hussein's father was Mohammad Hosseini Tafresshi, who was considered a Sayyid of Aftasi, whose family tree was connected to Sultan-al-Ulama Ahmad (also known as Seyyed Ahmad). [24]

Mohammad Hosseini Tafreshi Khamenei Tabrizi was the son of Mohamad Taghi, who was the son of Mirza Ali-Akbar, who was the son of Fakhr-al-Din Tafreshi. The descendants of Fakhr-al-Din (also known as Mir-Fakhra) are called Mir-Fakhrayi. [25]

The family's descent, known as "Sadat-e Hosseini", is likewise connected to the third Shia Imam, Husayn ibn Ali. [8] [26]

Name

The name Khamenei is of Azerbaijani origin and derives from the city of Khamaneh in Iranian Azerbaijan. [27]

Pronunciation

The name is pronounced [xɑmeneji] in Persian, [28] and in Azerbaijani, it's pronounced [xɑmɯneˈji] ,[ citation needed ] but English-language speakers vary in their pronunciation of the name. [29] A news report by The New York Times during the 1989 Iranian Supreme Leader election stated the name was pronounced "kha-meh-neh-ee". [30] Other English-language sources give the following pronunciations of the name:

Family tree

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Persian: خاندان خامنه‌ای, romanized: Xândân-e xâmene-i; [1] Azerbaijani: خامنئی عایلسی, romanized: Xamenei ailəsi [2]
  2. ↑ Maternal ancestry only.

References

  1. ↑ "یکی از خامنه‎ای ها؛ نگاهی به خاطرات محمد خامنه‎ای برادر بزرگتر رهبر ایران". BBC News فارسی (in Persian). 3 June 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  2. ↑ "Xamenei ailəsi ilə birlikdə sığınacaqdadır". Milli.Az (in Azerbaijani). 16 June 2025. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  3. ↑ "Who is Mojtaba Khamenei, son and successor to Iran's supreme leader?". France 24 . Associated Press; Reuters. 8 March 2026. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  4. ↑ Ganjineh-Daneshmandan (scientists' treasures). Vol. 127. Sharif-Razi. p. 7.
  5. ↑ Biography of Ayatollah Khamenei radiofarda.com Retrieved 21 September 2019
  6. ↑ MarkazeAsnade EnqelanEslami --Arshiv (Document Center Archive), No. 1225
  7. ↑ Khamenei Family -- Ayatollah Khamenei ghadeer.org Retrieved 2 October 2019
  8. 1 2 "Descent and parents of Ayatollah Khamenei". basirat.ir. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  9. ↑ "Family of Khamenei -- Biography of Ayatollah Khamenei". leader.ir. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  10. ↑ "Family tree of Iran's supreme leader - Seyyed Ali Khamenei". nafee.ir. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  11. ↑ "Checking family-tree of the Supreme leader of Iran (Khamenei) -- Ma'aref Radio". rasanews.ir. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  12. ↑ "Family tree of Iran's supreme leader, Seyyed Ali Khamenei". aparat.com. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  13. ↑ Pure tree (al-Shajarah al-Tayebbah), Seyyed Fazel al-Mousavi al-Safavi (Khalkhali-Zadeh)
  14. 1 2 "Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei Fast Facts". cnn.com. 30 December 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  15. ↑ "Ali Khamenei -- RAHBAR OF IRAN". britannica.com. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  16. ↑ "Khamenei -- Azeris media". yjc.ir. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  17. ↑ "Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead, state media says". BBC News. 1 March 2026. Retrieved 1 March 2026.
  18. ↑ Who are Ayatollah Khamenei's relatives? bbc.com Retrieved 3 October 2019
  19. ↑ Knowing dynasty of Seyyed Ali Khamenei (Iran's supreme leader) Archived 21 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine shabestan.ir Retrieved 21 September 2019
  20. ↑ "About The Author -- Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei". al-islam.org. 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  21. ↑ "Ancestors of Ayatollah Khamenei". hawzahnews.com. 5 July 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  22. ↑ Aqa Buzurg Tihrani, al-Dhari'a, vol. 2, p. 640
  23. ↑ "Knowing ancestors of Ayatollah Khamenei's parents". navideshahed.com. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  24. ↑ "Genealogy (family-tree) of Ayatollah Khamenei". cloob.com/. Retrieved 22 September 2019.[ permanent dead link ]
  25. ↑ "Ancestors of Ayatollah Khamenei". navideshahed.com. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  26. ↑ Institute of Contemporary History Studies of Iran
  27. ↑ Izady 1989 , p. 45: "Mr. Khamenei was born to an Azeri clerical family living at the site of the holy Shi'ite shrine of Meshad, Khurasan. But his Azeri connections are undeniable, including his fluency in Azeri and his maintaining of the family's last name ascribing him to the town of Khameneh in Azerbaijan."
  28. ↑ Miller & Aghajanian-Stewart 2017 , pp. 4, 106: "Alongside the headword for each entry, representing its word family, we also provide the pronunciation of the headword in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), reflecting the common Iranian pronunciation of the word. [...] Rank: 4283; Headword: خامنه‌ای; Pronunciation: xɑmeneji; Gloss: Khamenei."
  29. ↑ "How are Khomeini and Khamenei pronounced?". Encyclopædia Britannica (Online  ed.). Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2 March 2026. ISSN   1085-9721. OCLC   33663660 . Retrieved 5 March 2026.
  30. ↑ Pear, Robert (5 June 1989). "Man in the News; Iran's New Supreme Leader; Ali Khamenei". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 5 March 2026.
  31. ↑ "Khamenei". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 5 March 2026.
  32. ↑ "Khamenei". Collins English Dictionary . HarperCollins. OCLC   1120411289 . Retrieved 5 March 2026.
  33. ↑ "Khamenei". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d. Retrieved 5 March 2026.
  34. ↑ "Khamenei". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary . Merriam-Webster. OCLC   1032680871 . Retrieved 5 March 2026.
  35. ↑ Bollard, John K., ed. (1998). "Khamenei". Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names. Detroit, MI: Omnigraphics. ISBN   978-0-7808-0098-4.
  36. ↑ "KHAMENEI, AYATOLLAH ALI". pronounce.voanews.com. Retrieved 5 March 2025.

Bibliography

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