Shahbaaz was born on 22 January 1910, at Amroha (U.P.). After completing his matriculation in 1928, he passed the Munshi Kaamil Examination from Punjab University, Lahore. In the meanwhile, he had also acquired a high degree of proficiency in Persian language and religious lore. He worked as a teacher in a college at Amroha for nearly sixteen years and retired in 1952.


Shahbaaz developed an eye problem at the age of 32 which left him blind in 1945, when he was 35 years of age. But the loss of his eyesight was compensated by the awakening of his insight and imagination, which, coupled with his passion for truth and rectitude in life, enabled him to write high-class humorous poetry meant to delight and instruct the readers. The family environment available to him was conducive to the growth of his poetic instincts. His father, Zareef Ahmed, was a man of literary abilities, and his mother was a cultured lady. The literary atmosphere of Amroha was also helpful in kindling and feeding his poetic flame. He spent most of his life in his sitting room, endearingly called Ashiana.


Shahbaaz began his poetic career with ghazal writing, and he wrote his poetry under various poetic names: Gul, Muslim, Shaheen, and Shahbaaz. Turning away from the conventional poetry of love and wine, Shahbaaz concentrated on humorous and satirical verse and soon left his imprint on this genre of poetry. He has left behind two volumes of poems, Toey Zoey and Halwe se Kabab Tak. He has successfully tried his hand at all kinds of poetry, ghazal, nazm, rubai, git, and marsia, but humorous and satirical poetry is his forte.