Ranjoor Azimabadi was born Mohammad Yusuf Jafri in 1863 at a place called Sadiqpur in the state of Bihar. He received his early education from his cousin brother Maulana Abdul Kakeem and his maternal uncle Maulavi Mohammad Hasan. Later, he was sent to Patna College for a short period, then to Aligarh.  He taught as an Arabic teacher at Mohammedan Anglo Arabic School in Patna where he was later associated with the editing of Patna Institute Gazette. Subsequently, Ranjoor shifted to Calcutta and was appointed as the chief maulvi in Calcutta University and a lecturer in Persian. In Calcutta, he was also elected as a member of Madrasa Aliyah and member of the board of examinations. In recognition of his services in different areas, the prestigious titles of Shamsul Ulema and Khan Bahadur were conferred on him. Ranjoor was a close friend of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad who has mentioned him in many of his letters. He died in 1923.

Ranjoor Azimabadi is one of those poets who contributed towards the establishment of Azimabad as a school of poetry. He was hardly ever interested in the publication of his poetry. This kept him unnoticed for a long time. His manuscripts available at Khuda Bakhsh Library in Patna were put together and published as Diwan-e-Ranjoor. While Ranjoor’s poetry is replete with serious concerns, he also finds space for satire and humour in it. He also wrote text books entitled Kalam-e-Urdu and Majmua Mazameen Nazm-o-Nasr.