He also joined the Bengal Senior Educational Service as professor and head of the English Department at Presidency College, Calcutta (1944–47) and was the BBC's Representative and Director in India during World War II, from 1942 to 1945.

It was a collection of short stories in the Urdu language and was a bitter critique of middle-class Muslim values in British India.

[1][6] In addition to Ali, it included stories by three of his friends; Mahmud al-Zafar, Sajjad Zaheer and Rashid Jahan.

Ali achieved international fame with his first novel written in English Twilight in Delhi, which was published by the Hogarth Press in London in 1940.

[8] This novel, as its title implies, describes the decline of the Muslim aristocracy with the advance of British colonialism in the early 20th century.

According to the book's description it is "approved by eminent Islamic scholars", and "it has come to be recognized as one of the best existing translations of the holy Quran.