70-year-old Syrian resumes studies decades after fleeing war

Dubai: 70-year-old Syrian expatriate returned to the halls of Damascus University, four decades after war and political unrest forced him to abandon his education just short of graduation.

Mohammad Ali Al Najjar, originally from the northern Syrian town of Mare’, had been a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Islamic Law when he fled the country in 1981.

At the time, Syria was engulfed in a wave of military operations and crackdowns by the former regime targeting Islamist opposition groups. Like many others, Al Najjar left behind not only his home, but a lifetime’s worth of aspirations.

Yet he carried with him symbols of an unfinished dream: his original university ID card dated 1977 and an official transcript from 1981, documents he preserved for 44 years, holding onto the hope that one day he would return and finish what he started.

That hope materialized recently when Al Najjar submitted a formal request to resume his studies at Damascus University. His return was met with warmth and admiration.

The university shared photos of Al Najjar’s preserved documents on social media, alongside a message that struck a chord across the country: “Returning after 44 years is not just about completing a degree, it is about loyalty to a dream, and an unbreakable bond with one's homeland.”

The dean of the Faculty of Islamic Law, Dr. Imad Al Din Al-Rashid, personally welcomed Al Najjar to his office, describing the moment as one that transcends academia.

Since the onset of the country’s devastating civil war in 2011, countless students were forced to leave school due to violence, displacement, or economic hardship.