Syed Waheed Akhtar (12 August 1934, in Aurangabad (Deccan) – 13 December 1996) was an Urdu poet, writer, critic, orator, and a Muslim scholar and philosopher.

According to Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, "Wahid Akhtar, regarded by many as a Modernist and by many others as Progressive, wrote that Modernism was really an extension of Progressivism".

[1] Akhtar is also considered by at least one writer to be among the few successful modern Urdu poets who took Marsia to new heights and gave it new direction in this age.

[2]