His father, Yahia al-Iryani, was the Chief Judge of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen and a highly regarded Sharia scholar.

Abd al-Rahman started his education in his village Iryan until the age of 16 when he left for the capital Sanaa to study at its famous Sharia School.

[6] According to Yossi Melman of Haaretz, Dorit Mizrahi of the Mishpacha Magazine, and an article in the weekly HaOlam HaZeh, there are allegations that al-Iryani was born Zekharia Hadad to a Yemenite Jewish family in Ibb.

At that time, Yemen was ruled by Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din, who decreed that all orphaned Jewish children must be disconnected from their religion and be given over for adoption to a Muslim family.

[8] Al-Eryani actively opposed the kings of the Kingdom of Yemen, helping to lead the Free Yemeni Movement in pushing for a republic.

In February 1948, he participated in the Alwaziri coup against the then ruler of Yemen, Yahya Hamiduddin, aiming at the establishment of a constitutional monarchy.