Abdul Karim Tariq

Pioneering Egyptian engineer who developed the first Arabic-language computer operating system

Abdul Karim Tariq (1912-1989) was an Egyptian computer scientist whose work in the 1950s-60s laid early foundations for Arabic computing. Working at Cairo University's pioneering computer lab, he faced the challenge of adapting Western-designed computers for Arabic script, which lacks standardization and requires right-to-left writing. His 1963 invention of the Tariq Keyboard Layout became the first standardized Arabic keyboard configuration. More significantly, he led the team that created Al-Kafi OS, the first operating system supporting Arabic text processing. This breakthrough enabled Arabic academic publishing and government records to transition from typewriters to digital systems. His contributions are chronicled in Encyclopedia Britannica and celebrated in the Cairo Computing Museum's permanent exhibit. Modern Arabic software still uses principles from his 1968 paper "Bridging Scripts: Arabic Computing Challenges".