Rehmat Ali was born on November 16, 1895. From early days of his childhood, Rahmat Ali showed signs of great promise as a student.

After completing his schooling, he joined the Islamia College of Lahore in order to get his Bachelor of Arts degree. Rahmat Ali finished education in England, obtaining MA and LLB with honors from the universities of Cambridge and Dublin.

It was during the years 1930 to 1933, that he established the Pakistan National Movement, with its headquarter at Cambridge.

He is taken as the first Muslim nationalist who was one of the earliest proponents of the creation of the state of Pakistan.

He is credited with creating the name "Pakistan" for a separate Muslim homeland in South Asia and is generally known as the founder of the movement for its creation.

He is best known as the author of a famous 1933 pamphlet titled "Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever", also known as the Pakistan Declaration.

The pamphlet started with a famous statement: "At this solemn hour in the history of India, when British and Indian statesmen are laying the foundations of a Federal Constitution for that land, we address this appeal to you, in the name of our common heritage, on behalf of our thirty million Muslim brethren who live in PAKSTAN by which we mean the five Northern units of India, Viz: Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sind and Baluchistan."

Chaudhry Rahmat Ali took forward the Scheme of Pakistan with a missionary zeal since its inception in 1933. In August 1947, Pakistan came to be established and in 1948 Chaudhry Rahmat Ali proceeded to Pakistan. Later he visited England to champion the cause of Kashmir through the United Nations.He died on February 3, 1951.