He was born in Akdoruk (Gavgas) village of Kulp district of Diyarbakır province. He was registered in the population register in 1968 as born in 1954. Since there was no primary school in the village, he started his madrasa education and this education lasted about 15 years. Over time, he learned Latin letters, improved his Turkish, and received his primary school diploma by taking external exams.

He took the religious service exams and was appointed as the imam of the Alicik Village Mosque in the center of Diyarbakir. During his tenure as imam, he graduated from Diyarbakır Imam Hatip High School externally. He graduated from Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Theology in 1994. In 1999, he won the Turan Dursun Research and Review Award with his work titled The Origin of the Qur'an.

Arif Tekin continues his studies on Quran commentary, hadith and Islamic history.