He was the grandson of Abdulhak Molla, a poet and physician at the court of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

After he came in contact with prominent literary personalities, Abdulhak Hâmid wrote his first prose Macera-yı Aşk (Love Affair) depicting his memoirs in Tehran.

Entering the foreign affairs service, he was appointed in 1876 to the Ottoman Embassy in Paris,[2] where he had the opportunity to learn about French literature.

Returning to the foreign affairs service, he was appointed in 1881 to Poti, Georgia, in 1882 to Volos, Greece and in 1883 to Bombay, India.

He spent a short time in Vienna, Austria after World War I and returned home following the proclamation of the Turkish Republic in 1923.

He continued in politics and was elected into the Grand National Assembly as deputy of Istanbul in 1928,[2] a post he retained until his death.

Abdulhak Hâmid Tarhan died on April 12, 1937, and was laid to rest in the Zincirlikuyu Cemetery in Istanbul, following a state funeral.

The loss of his first wife was a key point in his life as he wrote and dedicated many pieces involving her, such as Makber.