Choudhry Rahmat Ali (Punjabi: [tʃoː(ɦ)dəɾi ɾɛɦmət əli]; 16 November 1897 – 3 February 1951) was a Pakistani nationalist activist who was one of the earliest proponents of the creation of the state of Pakistan.

His seminal contribution was when he was a law student at the University of Cambridge in 1933, in the form of a pamphlet "Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever?

[citation needed] Ali's writings, in addition to those of Muhammad Iqbal and others, were major catalysts for the formation of Pakistan.

[14] Sir Mohammad Iqbal said that Rahmat Ali visited him in London when he was there for the First Round Table Conference in 1930 and asked him what he would call the government of the Muslim state he had proposed in Allahabad.

[16] The word 'Pakstan' referred to "the five Northern units of India, viz., Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghania), Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan".

[19] Ali also wrote that this would be followed by "reintegration of the three Muslim 'Asian' homelands of Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan" into Pakistan, a reference to Northwest India's political, historical and cultural affiliations with West Asia.

It is composed of letters taken from the names of all our South Asia homelands; that is, Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh and Balochistan.

Historian Aqeel Abbas Jafari has argued that the name "Pakistan" was invented by a Kashmir Journalist, Ghulam Hassan Shah Kazmi on 1 July 1928, when he moved an application before the government in Abbottabad seeking a sanction for publishing a weekly newspaper, "Pakistan".

[22][23] Ali's pamphlet described the Muslims of his proposed 'Pakistan' as a 'nation', which later formed the foundation for the two-nation theory of the All-India Muslim League: Our religion and culture, our history and tradition, our social code and economic system, and our laws of inheritance, succession and marriage are fundamentally different from those of most people's living in the rest of India.

The ideals which move our people to make the highest sacrifices are essentially different from those which inspire the Hindus to do the same.

Our national customs and calendars, even our diet and dress are different.Ali believed that the delegates of the first and second Round Table Conferences committed 'an inexcusable blunder and an incredible betrayal' by accepting the principle of an All-India Federation.

He demanded that the national status of the 30 million Muslims of the northwestern units be recognized, and a separate Federal Constitution be granted to them.

He criticizes the notion of the unity of "the country of India"; instead he considers it a continent with a wide variety of nations, ethnicities and religions, and that the Muslims, Sikhs, the Marathas, the Achhūts (untouchables) and the Rajputs were in fact separate nations, on whom the fetters of "Indianism" were fastened by imposing on all of them this "preposterous prefix of All-India".

[27] On 29 December 1930, Muhammad Iqbal delivered his presidential address, wherein he said:[28] I would like to see Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sindh and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State.

It is composed of letters taken from the names of all our South Asia homelands; that is, Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan.

][citation needed] Jawaharlal Nehru had written in his book on the scheme: "Iqbal was one of the early advocates of Pakistan and yet he appears to have realised its inherent danger and absurdity.

[38] In his maps he renamed the Indian subcontinent 'Pakasia' or more often 'Dinia' (an anagram of "India" with position of 'D' changed), meaning "Land of the Faith" in Arabic (from the word "deen").

[37][38] These alternate geographical maps of the subcontinent were followed by the mention of Rahmat Ali’s position as the "founder of the Siddiqistan, Nasaristan and Safiistan National Movements".

[39] While Choudhry Rahmat Ali was a leading figure for the conception of Pakistan, he lived most of his adult life in England.

[45] Rahmat Ali is credited by Pakistanis for having coined the term "Pakistan" and envisioning a separate state for Muslims.