Syed Muhammad Hanif Akhgar Malihabadi was born on 3rd September, 1928 in the family of Qazi Syed Muhammad Shareef ‘Asar Kasmandvi’ and Mohtarma Raziun-Nisa Begum in the town of Malihabad, close to Lucknow in undivided India. He completed his primary education in Malihabad and finished his “Munshi-Fazil” from Sulaimania College in Bhopal. He was very close to his mother who died in December 1949. On 29th December, 1950, the remaining family migrated to Karachi, Pakistan. Hanif Akhgar completed his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Institute of Business Administration, University of Karachi. He also completed his Diploma in Industrial Financing from London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London. He joined United Nations  as

International Civil Servant  in 1971 and served in different parts of world and retired on 2nd May 1989 as Division Chief of United Nations Capital Development Fund Division for Asia Pacific, Latin America and Arab States and settled down in  New York with his family. He was also a permanent representative of World Assembly of small and medium Enterprises in United Nations at New York.

Syed Muhammad Hanif became Syed Muhammad Hanif “Akhgar” at a very young age when he won the 1st prize in a Tarahi Mushaira at Amir-ud-Daulah Islamia College in 1945. Urdu poetry was his passion and his first collection of Ghazal “Chiragaa.N” was published in 1989. In 1997, his second collection “Khayaabaa.N” was published. His last book was a collection of “Naat”, as Khalq-e-Mujassam in 2003. He also completed his Autobiography, Aetraaf-o-Inkashaf. He attended Aalmi Urdu Conference at New Delhi and received Khawaja Meer Dard Award. He also started “ Halqa-e-Adab” in New York and organized several literary events and Mushaira. Due to some health issues, Hanif Akhgar moved to Dallas Texas in 2007 and since then he was living Dallas Texas till his last breath.