gibril haddad was born in  in beirut lebanon to a middle-class lebanese catholic family he has described his extended family as a mix of orthodox and romanmaronite catholics he was raised in a mixed neighborhood and attended a jesuit school that his father and grandfather had attended before him in  his father died during the lebanese civil war and his family was forced to flee lebanon for the united kingdom where haddad completed high school later his family moved to the united states where haddad attended columbia college in new york city and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree he then returned to lebanon and got a job at his old school two years later he left lebanon again and enrolled in a french literature graduate program at columbia university new york haddad states he spent most of his time after classes at the local church or library and occasionally visited his mother