[7] As someone born in the Indian subcontinent who later migrated to Pakistan during 1947 Partition, a perennial theme in Hussain's works deals with the nostalgia linked with his life in the pre-partition era.
[5] He wrote short stories, novels and poetry in Urdu, and also literary columns for newspapers such as Dawn and Daily Express.
Among the five novels he wrote – Chaand Gehan (1952), Din Aur Daastaan (1959), Basti (1980), Tazkira (1987), and Aage Samandar Hai (1995) – received global praise.
[2] His other writings include Hindustan Se Aakhri Khat, Aagay Sumandar Hai,[2] Shehr-e-Afsos, Jataka Tales, Janam Kahanian and Wo Jo Kho Gaye.
Aagay Sumandar Hai (Sea is facing you in the front) contrasts the spiraling urban violence of contemporary Karachi with a vision of the lost Islamic realm of al-Andalus in modern Spain.