Tariq — Name Meaning in Islam

Root: ط-ر-ق (ṭ-r-q), "to strike, to knock". Ṭāriq is the active participle: the one who knocks — and specifically, in the older Arabic, the one who arrives at night, because a night traveller has to knock to be let in. From that came its second sense: the bright star seen at night.

From the same root: ṭarīq (a road — what is struck by feet), ṭarīqa (a way, a method), miṭraqa (a hammer), ṭarq (a knock).

In the Qur'an: the eighty-sixth sūra is named aṭ-Ṭāriq, and it opens by swearing by the night and by aṭ-ṭāriq, then asks what will make you know what aṭ-ṭāriq is, and answers: the piercing star (86:1-3). The sūra defines its own title, which is rare, and it is the definition Arabic keeps.

Why the two senses hold together. A star that appears at night and a visitor who arrives at night are the same event described from inside the house: something reaches you after dark.

Spellings: Tariq, Tareq, Tarık (Turkish), Thariq (Indonesian), Tariq (Urdu), Tarek (Maghrebi), طارق.

Pronunciation: ṬAA-riq — the opening ṭ is the emphatic one, heavier and further back than an English t.

Feminine counterpart: none in common use.