Rajab Ali Beg was born in 1786 in Lucknow to Mirza Asghar Ali. he wrote under the pen-name Suroor. His early education took place in Delhi.In addition to Arabic and Persian language and literature, he was well versed in horse riding, archery, calligraphy and music. He had a good sense of humor and was a very sociable man. The circle of friends was very wide. There was also a friendly acquaintance with Ghalib.

It was around 1824 that Wali-ud-Din Ghazi-ud-Din Haider got angry with Suroor over something and deported him from Lucknow.This deportation was useful for both Suroor and Urdu prose because he moved to Kanpur and wrote fiction at the behest of Hakim Asad Ali, which made Suroor immortal in Urdu literature.When Naseer-ud-Din Haider ascended the throne, he forgave Suroor and allowed him to come to Lucknow. When the reign of Wajid Ali Shah began, he entered the court poets for fifty rupees a month.

In 1856, the kingdom of Awadh came to an end and the patronages were cut off. Syed Imdad Ali and Munshi Shivprasad helped for a few days but the failed uprising of 1857 created such conditions that Suroor had to leave Lucknow. In his later years he went to Calcutta for eye treatment. On his return from there he died in Banaras in 1869.

Suroor is the author of several books. The first and most important of these is ‘Fasaana-e-Ajaaib’ which was written in 1824. It centers around This book can be considered the antithesis of Mir Aman’s ‘Bagh-o-Bahar’.The author has parodized Bagh-o-Bahar and its author. There are many other books by Suroor, such as Suroor-e-Sultani, Sharar-e-Ishq, Shigufa, Mohabbat, Gulzar-e-Suroor, Shabestan-e-Suroor and Insha-i-Suroor.