Fazl belonged to an aristocratic Syed Zamindar family of Bihar state.
He was knighted in the New Year's Honours list of 1941 and invested with his knighthood on 1 May 1942 by the Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow.
Whilst in Assam, he made strenuous efforts to bring the disgruntled Naga tribals into the mainstream of society.
[citation needed] Over the course of his tenure on the Supreme Court, Fazl Ali authored 56 judgments and was a part of 113 benches.
[5] Notably, he dissented in two early free speech cases before the Supreme Court, Romesh Thapar v. State of Madras (1950) and Brij Bhushan v. State of Delhi (1950).