Faraz was born in Kohat, (then British India) to Syed Muhammad Shah Barq. His brother is Syed Masood Kausar. He moved to Peshawar with his family. He studied in famous Edwards College, Peshawar and received Masters in Urdu and Persian from Peshawar University.

During in college life, Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Ali Sardar Jafri were his best progressive poets, who impressed him and became his role models. Ethnically a Pashtun Syed, Ahmed Faraz studied Persian and Urdu at the Peshawar University. He later became lecturer at the Peshawar University.