At 79, a Grandmother of 19 Just Earned Her Arabic Language Degree. She Is Not Done Yet.

MALE’ — Khadeeja Abdul Rahman sat among her classmates at the Islamic University of Maldives last week and received her degree in Arabic Language. She is 79 years old. She is a grandmother of 19. And she has been working toward this moment, on and off, for more than two decades.

Khadeeja first enrolled at Mauhad, then feeder school for MNU, in 1999. She completed her first Arabic course in 2002, then life intervened, as it does. She returned in 2019, completed Level 1, and kept going, working through every stage until her name was called on 14 May.

Twenty-seven years between her first Arabic lesson and her graduation certificate. She did not rush. She did not stop.

Her husband walked much of that road beside her, encouraging her, holding her hand through the harder stretches. He did not live to see the certificate. Khadeeja received it for both of them.

She has eight children and 19 grandchildren. Some of her grandchildren may themselves be in school right now, sitting exams, wondering whether the effort is worth it. Their grandmother just answered that question from a graduation stage at 79.

What comes next, she says, is the Quran. She wants to memorise it. Having spent five uninterrupted years completing her degree, she does not appear to be the kind of person who announces a goal without intending to reach it.

There is no age limit on any of this. Khadeeja Abdul Rahman just made that impossible to argue with.