A Dream Deferred, Not Denied By eventually obtaining his university degree 44 years after conflict forced him to stop studies, Adnan Al-Hariri, now 70, has become Syria’s greatest hero. He fled Aleppo in 1980 and lived as a refugee in Lebanon for decades before coming back last month to finish his literary degree at Damascus University.
Why This Inspires:
He is the oldest graduate in Syrian academic history. He also walked 6km daily to attend classes with teenagers. His Thesis is on “War & Arabic Poetry”. The topic of his thesis came from his own live’s trauma. It shows that education has no exact age of acquisition.
Al-Hariri’s achievement makes him the oldest graduate in Syrian academic history, a testament to perseverance in a country where education has been repeatedly disrupted by violence. While war scattered millions of Syrian students across the globe, his story offers hope that interrupted dreams can be revived – even after nearly half a century.
University professors describe him as their most dedicated student, often staying late to pore over texts in the library, his life experience bringing unique depth to classroom discussions about Arab literature and history. The emotional graduation ceremony saw faculty and students alike moved to tears as the silver-haired scholar received his hard-earned diploma.
For Al-Hariri, this moment represents more than personal achievement – it’s a symbol of Syria’s enduring intellectual spirit despite decades of destruction. “The war took many things from us,” he told local media, “but it couldn’t take our right to learn.” His accomplishment has sparked conversations about creating special programs for mature students whose education was stolen by conflict.
