LOWELL - Coming home from work one night, Ahmad Al Zubaidi was attacked by seven men in dark clothing. They savagely beat the influential Iraqi television journalist and left him for dead on the streets of Uzbekistan.

Targeted for “telling the truth’’ about Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the Iraq native spent a month in a hospital recovering. The message was unmistakable: Leave or be killed.

Eight years later, half a world away, the 57-year-old recounts the tale in the colorful confines of Babylon Restaurant, his six-month-old establishment in downtown Lowell.

To escape torture, persecution, and societal and religious conflict, Iraqi refugees have been immigrating to America by the thousands for the last few years. According to the International Institute of Lowell, approximately 250 live in Lowell, and hundreds more in Springfield, Lynn, Worcester, and Chelsea. Like most immigrants, they scramble to find jobs to feed their children, pay their rent, and start anew.

Because of the language barrier, many find work as dishwashers, in the service industry, or hold down jobs as security guards, house cleaners, or yard workers. And in Lowell, two Iraqi refugee families are setting the standard for what is possible.

A few streets from Babylon, Ahmad and Ghaida Jassim are a month into their new endeavor as owners of Abu Nawas. The split-level restaurant with a gift shop and takeout counter serves bountiful plates of stuffed grape leaves, freshly made hummus with endless pita, and free tea. It’s been a hit with lawyers attending hearings in the nearby courthouse and University of Massachusetts Lowell students, who appreciate the reasonable prices and healthy fare.

Initially, this couple, who both have master’s degrees in communication and were former members of Iraq’s upper class, have found it hard to find work. Since arriving in Lowell 2 1/2 years ago, they’ve stitched together a string of minimum wage jobs to pay the bills. She has been an assistant teacher, he worked in security, as a night clerk at a 7-Eleven, and in the kitchen of a Papa Gino’s and Chili’s.

“We need something. We need to survive,’’ said Ghaida Jassim, a hospitable woman with big, bold eyes.

By taking matters into their own hands, these families have impressed local agencies that help immigrants.

“We’ve never heard of people opening up a business so quickly, not within a few months of getting here. That is really fast and fascinating,’’ said Rebecca Feldman, director of the International Institute of Lowell, a resettlement agency that assists refugees coming into the city.

There are reasons why, even in a diverse city such as Lowell, these immigrants stand out. While city departments have been very helpful, opening a restaurant can be extremely arduous.

“It’s a huge hurdle to get state certification,’’ said Terry Williams, assistant director at the Lowell Small Business Assistance Center, an organization that helps low-income and minorities find work.

She walked Leyla Zubaydi, who runs Babylon with her father, through the various steps - from permitting to food handling certifications - to open the restaurant on Merrimack Street. “She is very persistent. She was dealing with a lot of stuff,’’ said Williams.

Beyond the basics of getting a business up and running, Williams helped the fledgling restaurateurs understand something equally as important: the dining habits of Americans.

“I told her how Americans can be impatient at lunch. They have to go back to work. It’s not a relaxed affair,’’ said Williams.

She also steered the owners of Babylon toward a $2,500 marketing grant, which they will use to transform the former pizza parlor into an Arabic enclave.

They continue to make their restaurant more authentic, replacing store-bought pita with homemade Iraqi bread, and turning a succulent boneless chicken served with rice pilaf into a swoon-worthy signature dish. Sometimes it’s hard when they think about those that didn’t make the trip, like Leyla’s sister stuck in Uzbekistan, but the father and daughter team are keenly aware of their good fortune.

“You have everything,’’ said Leyla, translating for her father, who speaks Russian. “You guys are so lucky; you have the law protecting you. If you have a brain, if you are a little bit smart, you can do anything.’’

But it may take decades for immigrants to regain their station in life.

Transitioning from a respected member of the Iraqi elite to spending seven days a week in the cramped kitchen of Abu Nawas has been hard on Ahmad Jassim. “At home everyone knows Ahmad; here no one knows Ahmad,’’ he explained in halting English.

Since the start of the US-led war in Iraq, the former antiques dealer lost “two brothers, my job, and my house,’’ he said. Living in fear of his safety and that of his two children, he set out for America. In July 2009 they landed in Lowell.

“I’m here, I’m poor, I’m missing my family,’’ said the towering man with a peaceful demeanor.

Living in Lowell, he feels like he landed “on the moon.’’ When he thinks about his esteemed status in Baghdad, he equates the experience to playing a video game, having reached the highest level and then “it is game over.’’

But as he lays down a stunning tray of sweets, little nests of shredded wheat baked with honey and a cluster of pistachios, he tries to concentrate on his success.

“My idea is to show Americans another side of the Middle East. We accept everyone,’’ said Ahmad Jassim, who with his wife saved $6,000 over six months to open the ethnic eatery and gift shop.

They see the restaurant as a bridge to something better. “Our next goal is to save so we could study in the university,’’ said Ghaida Jassim. “We want to find a white-shirt job, but we have no choices. No offering for jobs.’’

Armed with ambition, drive, and ingenuity, Lowell’s newest business owners are enriching the city’s culture and making a dent in the job market.

“Immigrants tend to be amazingly entrepreneurial. If you look at the data, the job creators are immigrants. They develop and open small businesses vastly more than the native population,’’ said Feldman of the International Institute of Lowell.

The key, said Zubaidi, a compact man with a wise face that is quick to light up with laughter, is “to find the work.’’

Instead of waiting in line for a government handout, he walked the streets of Lowell, eyeing the empty space where Babylon now sits. In November the father and daughter opened a takeout café a block away.

“America gives you a lot of chances to improve yourself,’’ said Ahmad Jassim. “A lot of immigrants are living very good lives here because we are not sitting.’’

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