El-Jeaan, a Muslim in the orthodox Sunni tradition, now worships alone. "I've felt a little intimidated because there are a lot of Palestinians and Jordanians who adamantly oppose Western intervention in Kuwait," he says. He finds strength from his ritual of praying five time each day. "I think anybody who isn't religious now has got to be crazy," he adds.
And as he speaks, he reaches for the Koran, opening it to a passage which reads: "If two parties of believers take up arms the one against the other, make peace between them. If either of them commits aggression against the other, fight the aggressor until they submit to God's judgment."
With the beginning of America's military involvement, El-Jeaan says that he has found himself hating the frequent anti-war protests more and more.
"I think they're trying their hardest to turn this into a fad--you know, relive the '60s," El-Jeean says. "Anyone who wants to do that has a sick sense of taste. I really hate the Boston radical hotbed."
El-Jeaan says be knows that may not be a popular stance at Harvard.
"I think I've established a reputation for being one of the most conservative students at Harvard," he points out, adding that he considers himself fairly liberal, "People don't realize I'm not American. This is my country I'm fighting for. If conservative means I'd die for my country, then yes, I'm conservative with all my heart."
El-Jeaan recounts an incident in the office of Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III, when Epps' secretary, upon learning of his affiliation to SFK, said to him: "Your dreams must have come true."
"She naturally assumed that since we weren't against the war, we were for war. I had the urge to tell her off," he recalls. "[People] don't realize I have just as much--probably more--to lose as anyone else."
As the Western-educated Kuwaiti struggles for his homeland from afar, he finds himself engaged in activities far different from the school newspaper he edited in high school last year.
"I think I've grown mentally," he says. "I've been thrown on the threshold of reality. All Kuwaiti Youngsters have grown through this invasion. We're children no more."
El-Jean says he is ready to fight for what he believes.
"My embassy called me up last week and asked me if I was willing to be drafted," he adds. "I said `yes.'"
"I'm seriously considering going to Kuwait as one of the first volunteers as medical relief," he continues, outlining the responsibility he feels to the Gulf emirate. "I think my talents are going to be needed in reconstructing my country [after the war]. It depends on how torn up it is, [but] it might he politics."
For now, though, El-Jeaan, who will enter the class of '95 to concentrate in economics unless the war prevents him, is just waiting for the conflict to come to a quick finish. The struggle seems to have taken a heavy psychological and physical toll on him, though he maintains that no matter how long it takes, he will continue to support the freedom of his country.
"I pray this will be over soon," he says. "I don't think the Kuwaiti people can stand it."