His poetical output includes Baharistan, Nigaristan, and Chamanistan. He was specially versed in impromptu compositions. His poems have religious and political sentiment. Khan's interest in poetry began in his childhood. He chose to write in Urdu, instead of his mother tongue Punjabi. Close to the time of death there was still some social interaction and amicability as the second Ahmadi Khalifa, Mirza Bashir ud din Mahmood, personally paid for his medical care until his passing in 1956.
However, in the 1930s he published Anti Ahmadi vitrol in the Zamindar, and even wrote some anti Ahmadi poetry. He worked on multiple collaborative projects with Ahmadis such as Khwaja Kamaluddin and even praised the movement. His maternal uncle Maulana Hassan Khan and his cousins were also prominet Lahori Ahmadis. His father had been an ardent admirer of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and other leading Ahmadis such as Maulana Hakeem Noor-ud-Din. Zafar Ali Khan's relationship with the Ahmadiyya movement was complex. He returned from Hyderabad and launched his daily Zamindar newspaper from Lahore which was founded by his father Maulvi Sirajuddin Ahmad. Then he worked for some time as a translator in Hyderabad, Deccan, rising to the post of Secretary, Home Department. Career Īfter graduation, Khan was appointed secretary to a Muslim political leader Mohsin-ul-Mulk, then in Bombay. He rejoined Aligarh College and gained his BA degree from there. Next, he worked in the postal department of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the same place where his father worked, but resigned over a row with his seniors. He received his early education at Mission High School, Wazirabad, Gujranwala District., matriculated (10th grade) from Patiala, and passed his intermediate (12th grade) from the Aligarh College. Zafar was born into a Punjabi Janjua family in Sialkot, British India.