[1][2] In 1925, he was sent to Moscow to study at the State Film School, but he soon joined the editorial office of the Tatar-language newspaper Eşçe (Эшче; The Worker) where he met the Tatar writers Musa Cälil and Kavi Najmi [ru].

[3] In 1942, during World War II, İsxaq enlisted in the Soviet Army and served as a platoon commander and a military journalist first in the Russian Far East and then in Ukraine.

[1][3] After the war, he worked for the newspaper Vatan çaqıra (Ватан чакыра; The Motherland Calls) before becoming chief editor of Çayan in 1963 a position he held through 1969.

[3] İsxaq also engaged in literary criticism and analysis, writing books about the work of Musa Cälil and Ğabdulla Tuqay.

[3] He also contributed to Tatar musical culture, including writing the libretto for an opera based on Ğomär Bäşirov [tt; ru]'s 1948 novel Namusı (Намусы; Honor) and translating other librettos, songs, and musical passages into Tatar,[4] including a translation of the State Anthem of the Soviet Union.