Tarek Makhlouf

Tarek was born in Syria and raised in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. He graduated from Monash University with a double degree in robotic engineering and economics and worked for a multinational corporation for a year.

Tarek is classically trained in Arabic literature and the Arabic linguistic tradition, including the disciplines of naḥw, ṣarf, ʾuṣūl al-naḥw, balāgha, ʿarūḍ and ʿulūm al-lugha. Tarek pursued the in-depth study of Arabic in Syria, and once the war broke out in 2011, he has continued his studies online with his teachers. He studied Western linguistics at The University of Melbourne where he will soon complete his PhD. His PhD investigates the transfer of grammatical knowledge from al-Andalus to the Mashriq. He spent a year of his PhD at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies for research and training. In addition, he is trained in Arabic codicology (manuscript studies) and as an intellectual historian. Studying the Arabic language from two intellectual traditions has given him a unique perspective.

Tarek lectured and tutored Arabic at Deakin University for several years and lectured on the history and sociolinguistics of Arabic at The University of Melbourne. He also conducted several community Arabic classes in Melbourne and holds a weekly circle teaching classical grammatical texts.

Tarek has presented his academic work in Australia and Europe. Among his publications is a short article in Pursuit, highlighting the importance of Arabic as a global language.

Tarek’s research focuses on the history, methodology and sources of the Arabic linguistic tradition and issues of language within the Islamic tradition more broadly. Some of his other research interests include Arabic historical linguistics, Qurʾānic studies, tafsīr, and linguistic traditions of other world cultures.