He was born in Delhi, British India and later migrated to Pakistan after national independence in 1947. In 1932, he had helped write "Angaray" (Coals) a collection of short stories written by him and some other 'progressive' writers. Later, he wrote his most famous novel "Twilight in Delhi" (1940), and then "Purple Gold Mountain" (poems, 1960), "Ocean of Night" (novel, 1962), "Rats and Diplomats" (novel, 1984) and "The Prison-House" (short stories, 1985). He also translated some portions of the Quran from Arabic to English and also some Urdu poems by early poets, like Mirza Ghalib.