[1] Rahman was born on 16 July 1966 in the village of Mahuwara in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

[2] Her family moved to New Zealand from Canada in 1972 when she was five years old, after her father completed a PhD and was offered a post-doctoral position at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in Hamilton.

[2] Rahman was a founding member of the Islamic Women's Council of New Zealand (IWCNZ) when it was established in 1990 and served as its first secretary.

[3][5] She is also a founding member of the Hamilton Ethnic Women's Centre (known commonly as Shama) and has served as a trustee on its board since 2002.

[3] In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours, Rahman was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to ethnic communities and women.