Mirza Qatīl was born in 1758 as Diwani Singh into a Punjabi Khatri family in Delhi.
His family hailed from the city of Batala in Punjab; his father Dargahi Mal had migrated from Punjab to Delhi and took service under a Mughal noble Hidayat Ali Khan as a munshī, with an annual salary of 1000 rupees.
Under the influence of his tutor, Mirza Baqir Shahid Isfahani, he converted to Twelver Shi'a Islam at the age of 18.
[2] He travelled widely in the countries of Iraq and Iran, and after returning to Delhi, spent a few years in the army of Mirza Najaf Khan.
[2][3] Qatīl was a prolific author and a polyglot, writing in Persian and Urdu as well as in Turkish and Arabic.