Tariq Rahman facts for kids

Tariq Rahman was born on February 4, 1949. He is a famous Pakistani scholar, writer, and researcher. He also writes for newspapers.

He lives in Lahore, Pakistan. He has written many books and articles, mostly about linguistics, which is the study of language. He has won many awards for his important research and writings.

Early Life and Education

Tariq Rahman was born in Bareilly, India, on February 4, 1949. His family moved to Pakistan in 1951. His father, Sami Ullah Khan, was a math teacher at the Pakistan Military Academy.

Tariq Rahman went to Burn Hall School. In 1971, he joined the army as an officer. However, he decided to leave the army in 1978. The Government of Bangladesh honored him in 2013 for his decision.

While in the army, he earned three master's degrees on his own. In 1979, he won a scholarship from the British Council. This helped him get more master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Sheffield in England by 1985. His first PhD was in literature. Later, he focused more on social sciences.

Career Highlights

Tariq Rahman started teaching at Peshawar University in 1985. In 1987, he became a professor and head of the English Department at the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. There, he started teaching linguistics.

In 1989, he earned another master's degree in linguistics from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. He joined the National Institute of Pakistan Studies in 1990. In 2004, he was named a distinguished national professor for life. He became a tenured professor in 2007.

In 2011, he joined Beaconhouse National University in Lahore. He became the Dean of the School of Education. In 2014, he was appointed Dean of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the same university. He retired from his Dean position on September 1, 2024. He has also been a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford in England.

Awards and Honors

Tariq Rahman has received many important awards for his work:

• In 1995–96, he was a Fulbright fellow in the USA.
• In 2004, the President of Pakistan gave him the Pride of Performance Award for his research.
• From 2004 to 2005, he was the first person to hold the Pakistan Chair at the University of California, Berkeley.
• In 2007, he became the director of the National Institute of Pakistan Studies at Quaid-e-Azam University. Later, in 2010, he became a professor emeritus there.
• In 2009, the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award.
• In November 2011, he received the Humboldt Research Award. He was the first Pakistani to get this research award. This award recognized his many books and scholarly papers.
• In 2014, the University of Sheffield gave him a higher doctorate (Litt. D) for all his research in humanities and social sciences.
• In 2014, he received the Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Distinction) Award from the President of Pakistan.
• In 2018, he won the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan award for Best Book (Social Sciences) for his book Names: A Study of Personal Names, Identity and Power in Pakistan.
• In 2018, he became a permanent member of Wolfson College at the University of Oxford.
• In 2020, his book Interpretations of Jihad in South Asia: an Intellectual History won the Best Book of the Year (non-fiction) prize.
• On May 25, 2024, his book Pakistan's Wars (2022) won the Best Book of the Year (Non-fiction) prize from UBL Bank.
• On September 8, 2020, his book Interpretations of Jihad in South Asia also won the Best Book of the Year (non-fiction) prize at the 9th United Bank Limited Literary Awards.
• On January 7, 2021, he was elected a Fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences.

Research and Publications

To write his book From Hindi to Urdu: A Social and Political History, Dr. Rahman traveled to many cities. He visited places in Pakistan, England, France, Germany, and India. He studied old writings in Urdu, Persian, and Hindi. He even learned the Devanagari script (used for Hindi) when he was 58 years old.

He has also written three collections of short stories and edited two books. His research focuses on how language, politics, and education are connected, especially for Muslims in North India and Pakistan. He has also written about names and intellectual history.

He has published over 107 articles in scholarly journals. He has also written 24 entries in reference books, 10 encyclopedia articles, and 45 chapters in other books. His books are published by well-known publishers like Oxford University Press and Orient Blackswan. His recent books include Interpretations of Jihad in South Asia: an Intellectual History (2018) and Pakistan's Wars: an Alternative History (2022). His latest book is Handbook of Mirza Ghalib's Poetry and Poetics: Commentaries and Contemporary Concerns (2024).