Al-Hikma University

Al-Hikma University in Baghdad was founded in 1956 by Jesuit priests from the New England Province of the Society of Jesus. It was located at Zaafarania, on the southern outskirts of Baghdad and was an extension of the work of the Jesuits who had a permanent presence in Baghdad since four Jesuits had founded a secondary school, Baghdad College, in 1932. The history of the Jesuit mission in Iraq has been chronicled by Father Joseph MacDonnell S.J., late of Fairfield University, in his book "Jesuits by the Tigris". The Jesuits were expelled from Iraq in 1968 by the Baathist government. The University's initial student body numbered only 45, but, by the time that the university was closed, there were 656 students. Over its lifetime, around...