Zarifa Aziz was born in Shahtakhktyvillage, Sharur to ethnic Azerbaijani parents in 1923. Her father was Aziz Aliyev, People's Commissar of Public Health Services of the Azerbaijan SSR and later the first secretary of the Communist party's oblast committee of Dagestan. In 1948, she married Heydar Aliyev. On October 12, 1955, their daughter Sevil was born, and on December 24, 1961, their son Ilham was born. In 1982, she lived in Moscow with her family.
Much of Aliyeva's working life was spent at the Azerbaijan State Institute of Advanced Medical Studies.[2] She devised and introduced new methods for treatment of ocular diseases. She was the author of 14 monographs, hundreds of research papers, and 12 rationalization proposals.