Hyderali Thangal was a member of the Pukkoya family of Panakkad (north Kerala). He was the third son of P. M. S. A. Pookkoya Thangal (1913 – 1975) and the younger brother of Sayed Mohammed Ali Shihab Thangal and Sayed Umerali Shihab Thangal. He was the founding president of Sunni Students' Federation (S. S. F.), the student wing of Samastha Kerala Jam'iyyat al-'Ulama', in 1973. He graduated from Jami'a Nooriyya, Perinthalmanna in 1975. He led the Sunni Yuvajana Sangham (S. Y. S.), the youth wing of the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, and later served the Malappuram District President, Indian Union Muslim League for around two decades.