Ahmad Rifai Arief was born in Pasir Gintung, at December 30, 1942. He was born as the first child of H. Qasad Mansyur bin Markai Mansyur and Hj. Hindun Masthufah binti Rubama. His father was an islamic religion teacher teaching in Madrasah Ibitidaiyah (primary junior school) Masyariqul Anwar, which is located near his house at Pasir Gintung village, Jayanti, Tangerang. That's why Rifai was raised in a religious environment, right from his childhood.
Since his childhood, his parent called him by Lilip, and he was famous by his nickname when he became an adult. He has three brothers and four sisters, to form seven sibligns. The seven siblings are Umrah, Dhofiah, Farihah, Huwaenah, Ahmad Syahiduddin, Nahrul Ilmi Arief, and Odhy Rosikhuddin. In the eyes of his siblings, Rifai become a paragon, and that's why he was beloved so much by them.
His educational journey started by attending the junior school, which is named Sekolah Rakyat, located in Sumur Bandung, Tangerang. He just attended only three years, before his father removed him to Madrasah Masyariqul Anwar, located in Caringin, which is also his father's alma mater. The reason his father moved him instead of continuing in Sekolah Rakyat was to get more knowledge of islamic religion, and to learn al-Quran with K. H. Syihabudin Makmun, who is also his father's sibling, as well.
After his graduation of Masyariqul Anwar in 1958, his father wished him to learn more about Islam in a modern Islamic institution. In Banten, in fact, there were several pesantrens, but those pesantrens are the traditional ones, so his father chose the famous, modern pondok pesantren, Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor, which located in Ponorogo, Jawa Timur. This pesantren offered Islamic sciences, severalsocialand natural sciences and foreign languages such as Arabic and English as well. Moreover, Darussalam taught disciplines towards their students. His father knew Gontor from his own brother, Ja'far Hadi. And, challenge begins: the whole family disapproved his journey to Gontor, because of the distance between Gintung and Gontor was lengthy (about 500 kilometers). But, with the strong wish, right after the graduation, Rifai with his father went a journey to Gontor.
Rifai was accepted as one of the students of Gontor, and he must complete his study in six years. At the first year, he sat at first year class B. In his teachers' and colleagues' view, Rifai was a student with a bright vision, diligent and master in oratory. His writings were also good, either in Latin or Arabic. Since his inception in Gontor, he showed his leadership abilities, even though he was suffered several illness during the time. And, for not following the final examination when he was at fifth year class, and then he was failed the examination.
After seven years being a student, 1958 through 1965, his own teacher, K.H. Imam Zarkasyi appointed him as a teacher in Gontor, and also his personal secretary. His duty was a huge business, as he scheduled several events, created pesantren’s policies concepts, edited speech materials, and many more. And those duties made Rifai more experienced in leadership and because he did it well, Imam Zarkasyi put more trust upon him.
After at least 2 years becoming a teacher, Rifai continued his study in several traditional pesantrens in Jawa Timur. His decision to get out of Gontor and continuing his journey was based upon his father’s wish: to create a higher-level educational institution than his father built once. Gontor, and other modern pesantrens, in fact did not train the students several classic Islamic manuscripts like those traditional pesantrens, as Gontor rather emphasize to proficiency in the English and Arabic languages. Moreover, in Banten’s tradition, a santri must master in Islamic jurisdiction (fiqh), Islamic faith (aqidah), and in Arabic linguistics (`ilmu-n-nahw, `ilmu-s-sharf, `ilmu-l-bayâni, `ilmu-l-badî`, and `ilmu-l-ma`ânî). This was the reason why Rifai chose to master those classic Islamic manuscripts.
As he came home after learning several classical Islamic manuscripts, he did not directly found a new pesantren as his father wished at the first place. Instead, he continued his learning in English by following an English course in Akademi Bahasa Asing, Bandung.
K. H. Ahmad Rifai Arief was famous with his strong, motivative oration. The list below is several of his sayings:
"Jadilah ikan hidup, jangan jadi ikan mati"
"Berani hidup, tak takut mati
Takut mati, jangan hidup
Takut hidup, mati saja"