Zafar Iqbal was born on 23 December 1952 in Sylhet. His father, Faizur Rahman Ahmed, was a police officer. His mother is Ayesha Akhter Khatun. In his childhood, he traveled various parts of Bangladesh. This was because of his father's transferring jobs. Iqbal was encouraged to write by his father in early life. Iqbal passed Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam from Bogra Zilla School in 1968 and Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSC) exam from Dhaka College in 1970. He earned his BSc in physics from the University of Dhaka in 1976. In the same year Iqbal went to University of Washington to obtain his PhD which he earned in 1982.