Hazrat Sultan Shaikh Syed Ahmad Al Kabeer Ar Refaie (1119-1182) was born on a Thursday in the first half of the lunar month of Rajab in district Hasen, in the Vasit province of Iraq. When he was seven years old, his father Syed Sultan Ali passed away in Baghdad. From then on his maternal uncle Syed Mansur ar Rabbani al Betaihi took him into his care and educated him.

The maternal part of Hazrat Ahmad Refaie 's family goes back to Hazrat Imam Hussain & Hazrat Imam Hasan, the sons of Hazrat Ali (R.A). On the paternal side his lineage goes back to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

Hazrat Ali (R.A), the master of the community, husband of Hazrat Bibi Fatima and the father of Imams, a cousin of the prophet. Hazrat Imam Hussain, Imam of Muslims, the chief of the Momins (believers in Islam) who were tried and afflicted with various troubles and calamities, the Shaheed-e-Karbala.

Ahmed Ar Refaie learned the Qur'an from Shaikh Abdus Sami al Hurbuni in Hasen, where he was born, and by the age of seven he had committed it all to memory. (The title Shaikh before a name indicates a sufi teacher.) That same year, after his father died, his maternal uncle Mansur ar Rabbani al Betaihi moved with his family to the region of Dikla. There he sent his nephew to Abul Fadl Ali al Vasiti, who was an expert in the canon law of Islam, a commentator on the Qur'an, and a great preacher.