In 1976, he went to Qom to continue his studies at the Ayatollah Borujerdi school. He was a student of Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi, Morteza Motahhari, Abolghasem Khazali, Hossein Noori Hamedani, Ali Meshkini and Morteza Pasandideh.[17][18] Raisi also passed his “KharejeFeqh” (external-Fiqh) to Seyyed Ali Khamenei and Mojtaba Tehrani. According to Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute, Raisi’s “exact religious qualification” is a “sore point”. “For a while” prior to investigation by the Iranian media, he “referred to himself” as “Ayatollah” on his personal website.