Shah was born in Karachi, West Pakistan, to a Sindhi Muslim Lakyari Syed family.

After earning the Quaid-e-Azam scholarship, he went to the United States and attended Stanford University in California where he completed his M.Sc.

[citation needed] He became a member of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh in 2002 for the first time representing PS-73 (Dadu III).

[8] He was elected to the Sindh Assembly in 2008 as a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party and was the provincial Minister for Irrigation in Syed Qaim Ali Shah's cabinet.

[11] Murad Ali Shah would become Sindh’s first and only Chief Minister to serve 3 consecutive times in a row.

Opposition to Murad, primarily the Grand Democratic Alliance, Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf have protested against electoral manipulation by the PPP in provincial elections several times, primarily in 2024, where Murad’s first few months in office were amid widespread protests against PPP rigging.

[12] According to some opposition politicians, the province has seen little to no government development or action with some suggesting that Sindh’s infrastructural and medical systems have worsened since Murad took office.