Of Lebanese and
Māori descent, Habib identified with the
Ngāti Tūwharetoa iwi. He was educated at
Te Aute College and then attended teachers' training college for a time, before working in a variety of jobs including in a bookshop, timber mills, freezing works, and on hydroelectric dam construction sites. He was the first Māori to write an original television drama: his 1979 work
The Gathering looked at tensions around an elderly woman's
tangihanga. This play marks a beginning point for contemporary Māori theatre; the company
Te Ika a Maui Players was formed to present it, which they did around the country in community halls, and
marae. The 1978 television adaptation of the play includes footage of the 1975
Māori Land March and was the first television drama written by a Māori person. Habib's television drama
The Protesters won the award for best script at the 1983
New Zealand Feltex Awards. The cast of
The Protesters included
Merata Mita,
Jim Moriarty,
Billy T. James and
Don Selwyn. In 1984, Habib was awarded the
Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship. In 2013,
Creative New Zealand awarded him a Ngā Tohu a Tā Kingi Ihaka
Te Waka Toi Award in recognition of his lifetime of service to Māori arts, describing his play
Death of the Land as a "landmark in the development of Māori theatre." ==Selected works ==