Both Habib and his wife attend classes in the arts department. “We were just fellow students in our first year but we fell in love and we had already decided to get married after we graduated,” Habib explains. “But the war didn’t allow us to complete our studies on time so we decided to get married anyway. Now we’re coming back here as husband and wife,” he says, laughing.
The fight against the IS group has changed the composition of the classes that Habib and his wife are attending. “There are a lot of changes,” Habib explains. A lot of students are coming to Mosul from other provinces again and students from different sects and religious groups around the province of Ninawa are also making their way back to lectures. “Sitting next to me are Christians, Yazidis and Shiites from other provinces,” he says.
One of the Shiite Muslims who has come to this Sunni-majority province is Murtada al-Zubaidi from Diyala, about 450 kilometres away. He is studying engineering here and admits he was slightly nervous when he first heard that this was to be his college town.
“Just the idea of coming to Mosul was unthinkable before because the IS group would kill us, just for being Shiite – the same way they would kill Yazidis and Christians,” al-Zubaidi notes. “There seemed to be no life in this city. It was pronounced dead.”
Al-Zubaidi said he is only here because of the way the authorities delegate university classes. “In the beginning I was really afraid to come,” the young man continues. “But my father contacted some friends and asked them about the situation and they said it was fine, so now I have been here for two months. All my fears are gone and things are good,” he says, as he heads into his next class. “Yes, they are good.”
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