Ishaq was born in 1910, into a Bengali Muslim family in Hashimpur, Kandirpara, Ramganj, then part of the Noakhali District in Bengal Presidency.
He came into contact with Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, Kalika Ranjan Kanungo, Nalini Kanta Bhattasali, Mohitlal Majumdar, Charuchandra Bandopadhyay and Muhammad Shahidullah.
[2] During his student life he won the championship in the All India and Burma Inter University Debating Competition.
[2] He read a paper on a session of Muslim Sahitya Samaj titled Trends of Modern Bengali Lyric Poetry.
[2] He presented papers at annual conferences of the Pakistan Historical Society too.
[citation needed] Ishaq involved in writing text books too.