Educational Path

In the early educational stages, Hamad studied the Qur’an and religious sciences in addition to his presence in school. He was studying at the Salah al-Din School, which was run by Sheikh Abdullah al-Ansari - may God have mercy on him. When the religious institute was established, he joined it with a group of friends. When he finished his studies at the religious institute, he went to Cairo and initially studied at the Faculty of Sharia at Al-Azhar University.

After a few months, he transferred to the Faculty of Dar Al-Ulum, which is a college specializing in the Arabic language and literary studies. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Cairo University in 1970, then a Master's degree from Saint Joseph University in Beirut, studied political philosophy at the Sorbonne University in Paris, then obtained a doctorate in political sciences from Stony Brook University in New York State in 1990.

From the first moment he arrived in New York in 1984, obtaining a doctorate was one of his main goals. He tried to do that in Paris but was not able to do so, so he made up for it by studying for two years at the Sorbonne. The choice fell on the State University of New York, Stony Brook branch, which is more than four hours away from Manhattan by car.

This required him to go to university two days a week, which was not easy. He chose a topic related to his work to enrich his knowledge and deepen it in his work, and at the same time achieve the desired goal. The topic was (decision- making in the United Nations Security Council...the Iran- Iraq war: a case study).

At that time, the war was at its worst between the two neighboring countries, and the research took more than three years, and did not end until he moved to Washington at the beginning of 1990 to assume the position of ambassador.