Seyyed Mohammad Ali Alavi Gorgani was a Shia marja and a teacher of advanced jurisprudence (Dars-e-Kharij) in Qom. He studied under prominent scholars such as Seyyed Hossein Tabatabaei Boroujerdi, Imam Khomeini, Seyyed Mohammadreza Golpayegani, and Mohammad Ali Araki.