Ajmal Ajmali was born on March 01, 1923 in a highly educated family with religious leanings. His father was an heir of Daira Shah Ajmal and Ajmali was brought up in the environs of a khanqah. He got his degrees of BA in 1955 and MA in 1957 from Allahabad University. In 1964, he earned his D. Phil. degree for his dissertation on the representation of ordinary life in Urdu literature.  He worked as lecturer in Urdu at Islamia College, Srinagar. In 1964, he shifted to Delhi and joined Soviet Information Service and got associated with the editing of Soviet Des. He continued working there until 1990.
Ajmali published a selection of his poetry in Safar Zaad in 1990. Apart from publishing many translations, he also wrote two books on the relationship of Hindus with Urdu and the life and works of the revolutionary poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam.
Both in his life and poetry, Ajmali was deeply influenced by progressive ideology and remained an active member of the Progressive Writers Association for a long time.
He died on 06 August, 1993 in Delhi.