Ymär Daher was originally from a village located in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, called Kuysu. After his mother's death, he arrived in Finland with his sisters, during the last tatar-migration wave in 1922. His father, fur trader Sarif Daher (Zarif Tahir) was already living in the country by then. Soon after, Daher began his studies at Helsingin Suomalainen yksityislyseo (The Helsinki Finnish private lyceum, founded by Yrjö Jahnsson), where he graduated from in 1930. He passed a master's degree in law at University of Helsinki in 1938 and got a deputy judge's degree in 1943. During the Winter War, he worked at intelligence and propaganda department. His military rank was staff sergeant. After working at his fathers company, Daher operated as an official in Uusimaa Province, the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland, Ministry of Finance and Helsinki tax office, where he retired as the head of department in 1973. In addition to his career, he practiced Altaic language -studies at University of Helsinki, where his directors were for example, professors Martti Räsänen, Armas Salonen, Aulis J. Joki and Pentti Aalto. He became Doctor of Philosophy in 1970.