[2] Rafi Ahmed Kidwai was born on 18 February 1894 in a middle class family in the village of Masauli, in Barabanki district (now in Uttar Pradesh).

[2][3] As a young man, after graduating from the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, he became politically active and was a regular member of Khilafat Movement in 1920.

According to historian Paul Brass, "A formidable fund-raiser for Congress movements and elections, he distributed his largesse to all and sundry, but died in debt, leaving behind only a decaying house in his home village.

[4] In his famous autobiography, Jawaharlal Nehru mentioned that Rafi Ahmad Kidwai was part of District Congress Committee and had signed a book containing recommendations to solve agrarian problem in United Provinces of British India in 1931.

100,000 for the radiotherapy machine for the establishment of cancer care hospital in Bangalore Karnataka state, India which is named after him - Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology.