Tarif was born in Damascus, Syria in 1957. He started writing short stories and articles in his early years of elementary school and poetry in his college years. He earned two BS degrees in Engineering and Literature from Damascus University. After graduating from college, he immigrated to the U.S. in the Eighties and restarted his life from scratch. He organized poetry recital events in Houston in the years 2009 and 2010, glorifying the Arabic civilization. His published 5 books between 2014 and 2018 He is currently working on a new Children Book titled (Phone Story) that will be published in 2020, addressing the children addiction to phones and other electronics.