When she left Pakistan six years ago, she was barely clinging to life.
Now Malala Yousafzai has returned a national hero and probably one of the most-recognisable Pakistanis in the world.
Ms Yousafzai, who usually goes by just her first name, Malala, has not been back in her homeland since she was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in 2012.
Although just a teenager when she was attacked, she already had a reputation for being an outspoken advocate for the rights of girls to education.
Her father ran a girls' school and she had appeared on local TV arguing for female education.
When masked Taliban assailants jumped on board her school bus, they asked for her by name before shooting her at point blank range.
Ms Yousafzai was airlifted to the United Kingdom where emergency medical treatment saved her life. Doctors spent months performing operations to rebuild her skull.
Since then, she has been unable to go home — but the attack catapulted her to global fame.
She became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize at 17 years old and set up a foundation, Malala Fund, to advocate and fundraise for girls' education.
Some of the money from her Nobel Prize was used to build a school for girls in the northern part of Pakistan where Ms Yousafzai was shot, and she is expected to visit it during her brief visit.
In an emotional speech in Islamabad, Ms Yousafzai wiped away tears as she said she had dreamt of returning to Pakistan.
Just last week, on Pakistan's national day, she expressed her longing for home.
"I cherish fond memories of home, of playing cricket on rooftops and singing the national anthem in school" she tweeted.
She discussed the possibility of a visit when she met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on the sidelines of a United Nations meeting in New York last year.
She again met with Mr Abbasi on arrival in Islamabad.
Ms Yousafzai is being accompanied by her father and brother on her visit home.
Now 20 and studying philosophy, economics and politics at Oxford University in the UK, Yousafzai continues to speak around the world for women's rights.
The Malala Fund works in Pakistan and across Africa and the Middle East.
While Ms Yousafzai is an object of adulation among many in the West, she is a divisive figure in her homeland, where conservative critics have accused her of tarnishing Pakistan's image and being a puppet of the United States.
While many Pakistanis on social media congratulated her on her visit home, there was a backlash among social media users who say she is seeking fame and does not represent the interests of Pakistan.
