Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker (born Phillip Barker; November 2, 1929 – March 16, 2012) was an American linguist who was professor of Urdu and South Asian Studies and created one of the first roleplaying games, Empire of the Petal Throne. He wrote several fantasy and science fantasy novels based in his associated world setting of Tékumel. Between 1990 and 2002, he was a member of the Editorial Advisory Committee of the Journal of Historical Review, which advocated Holocaust denial. In 1991 he published a neo-Nazi novel, Serpent's Walk, under the pseudonym Randolph D. Calverhall.
Early life Barker was born Phillip Barker in Spokane, Washington, on November 2, 1929. Barker's childhood was spent in Idaho. He grew up with an interest in science fiction, fantasy, and ancient Egyptian and ancient Mayan cultures. At the age of 10, he first imagined what was later to become his fantasy setting of Tékumel.
Academic life and creative networking Barker began studying linguistics and culture at the University of Washington. In and just before 1950, while Barker was studying at the University of Washington under Melville Jacobs, he became involved with science fiction fanzines, contributing to the zines Fanscient and to the local clubzine Sinisterra. He graduated from the University of Washington in 1951. That year, he received a Fulbright Scholarship to study the languages of India, and on his first trip to India, converted to Islam. Gary Fine wrote that Barker would attribute his conversion to "purely theological reasons [and that] it seemed like a more logical religion", though Barker himself admitted at the time to an "[unimaginable] feeling of awe and religious ecstasy" upon hearing the recitations of the 99 Names of Allah at the Taj Mahal. While in India, he studied at the University of Lucknow.
Later academic studies and career Barker attended the University of California, Berkeley for graduate studies, writing a dissertation on Klamath language, collecting traditional myths, legends, tales, and oral histories and later publishing a grammar and dictionary on the language. He taught at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University from around 1958/59 until 1972 and became active in the development of Urdu and Baluchi instruction materials for English-speaking students following a period of two years from 1960 when he was attached to the University of the Punjab. Some of these were still recommended university course study materials as of 2010. From 1972 he moved to teach at the University of Minnesota, where he chaired the Department of South Asian studies until his retirement in the early 1990s; a few years after, the department was disbanded due to reduced funding.
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