Josh Malihabadi's family name was Shabbir Ahmad Khan which was later changed to Shabbir Hassan Khan. He was born on December 5, 1898 in a wealthy family in Malihabad. His father Bashir Ahmad Khan Bashir was also a poet, grandfather Nawab Ahmad Khan was also associated with poetry, and, his great grandfather Nawab Faqir Muhammad Khan Sahib Diwan was a poet, too.

Josh's grandmother Begum Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan belonged to the lineage of Mirza Ghalib. Therefore, Josh had essentially inherited poetry from his family. Josh was not only a remarkable poet, but one who also excelled in prose. He was also involved in film and journalism. He had published a literary magazine "Kaleem" from Delhi but it could not continue for many days due to financial difficulties. He later became the editor of the Government of India's magazine "Aaj Kal", but here too, he didn’t stay put for long.

A few years after the partition of India, he migrated and settled in Karachi. Josh was fluent not only in his mother tongue Urdu but also in Arabic, Persian, Hindi and English. A prolific poet and writer, he has authored more than 30 books. Josh’s temperament was extremely mercurial. When Nizam was in Hyderabad, he wrote a poem against Nizam and was expelled from there. He later became the editor of Aaj Kal, a magazine of the Government of India, but migrated to Pakistan in 1955. Even there, his affiliation remained with the Tarqi Urdu Board, but due to differences, he had to resign from there as well. He also stepped into the film industry, and between 1943 and 1948, he wrote songs and dialogues for several films.

Josh Malihabadi passed away in Islamabad on February 22, 1982.