Ahmed Al-Waeli was born in September, 1928 in Najaf, Iraq. He came from a very well cultured family. His father (Sheikh Hassoun Al-Waeli) was also a religious cleric and a poet. However, he did not become as famous as his son Ahmed. From his youth, Ahmed Al-Waeli was smart and ambitious. He studied and memorized the Qur'an when he was seven years old. He graduated with an honor degree in 1962 in Arabic language and Islamic Jurisprudence. Then, he pursued his education in the institute of higher education –one of the institutes of university of Baghdad- and finished his master's degree in the same subject. The title of his thesis is “Custody Rules in Sharia and Law” which was published as a book later. He then left Iraq and went to Egypt to pursue his doctorate education. He received his PhD in economics in 1972 and his dissertation discusses the Islamic view of exploitation of labor.