Ahmed was born on 24 May 1940 to a Bengali Muslim family of Bhuiyans in the village of Manikpur in Noakhali District, Bengal Province.

[13] While in the UK, Ahmed was part of a growing intellectual movement among East Pakistani students in envisioning an independent Bangladesh.

[14] After returning to Dacca, he joined the legal team of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman during the Agartala Conspiracy Case trial in 1968.

He accompanied the Bengali delegation led by Sheikh Mujib to the Rawalpindi Round Table Conference with Field Marshal Ayub Khan in 1969.

[14] In 1985,[18] Ahmed joined the newly formed Jatiyo Party of Lt General Hussain Muhammad Ershad.

Ahmed was invited for talks with several Western leaders, including with Margaret Thatcher at 10 Downing Street.

He resigned in December 1990 to make way for Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed to become acting president and lead the transition to parliamentary democracy.

[21] After serving a stint in prison following Ershad's ousting, Ahmed was invited by Khaleda Zia to return to the BNP in 1996.

[citation needed] Under the Awami League administration, Ahmed and his brother Monzur faced charges of illegally occupying their properties in the posh Gulshan area of Dhaka.

Former Prime Minister and chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Khaleda Zia, condemned the move to evict him.

[13] In the fall of 1997, he was the Bland Visiting Professor at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs.

[34] On 30 December 2020, Ahmed was hospitalized in Dhaka due to a decrease in haemoglobin levels and eventually suffered a stroke.