Sheikh Ayaaz was born in Shikarpur, Sindh. He introduced several modern trends in Sindhi and Urdu literature. He wrote more than 50 books on poetry, besides penning biographies, articles and short stories in both Sindhi and Urdu. He also translated ‘Shah Jo Risalo’, a famous Sindhi text, into Urdu. Owing to its high aesthetic value, his poetry has been translated into several major languages of the world including English, Urdu, Sindh, French, Chinese, Russian and others. He was rewarded with Sitara-e-Imtiaz for his literary services.

The poetry of Sheikh Ayaz played a major role in the development of progressive thinking in his country, particularly in Sindh, where there was already a very strong imprint of Shah Abdul Latif’s mystic poetry. Besides, he was also a jail mate of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan, during the regime of General Ayub Khan.

‘Buu-e-gul, Naala-e-dil’ and ‘Neel Kanth Aur Neem ke Patte’ are the two compilations of his Urdu poetry.

Ayaz passed away on 28th December, 1997 in Karachi after a cardiac arrest.