Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah, was born on February 9, 1908, in the state of Hyderabad Deccan in the Indian subcontinent. He was the youngest of 3 brothers and 5 sisters.
In Hyderabad, Dr. Hamidullah was educated at Darul-Uloom secondary school, Nizam College and Osmania University from where he obtained his MA and LLB degree in International Law. From 1933-35 he studied at several universities in Europe and obtained a doctorate from Bonn University in Germany. In 1936, he obtained a degree from the Sorbonne University, France. From 1936-46 he served on the faculty of Osmania University teaching International Law.
In 1946, he was appointed as member of the delegation sent by the Nizam of Hyderabad at the League of the Nations. After the 1948 invasion of Hyderabad by the Indian army, Hamidullah chose to live in exile in France. In 1948, he founded the Hyderabad Liberation Society to get Hyderabad recognized as an independent state. He decided to stay as a stateless person as long as the question of Hyderabad was still open in the United Nations.