Sharif was born in 1919 to Mian Mohammad Baksh, into a trader Punjabi-speaking family of Kashmiri ancestry in Jati Umra.

[1] His Great Grand Father was Mohammad Bakhsh, Grand Father Abdullah, Father Muhammad Ramzan and Brothers Muhammad Shafi, Abdul Aziz, Barkat Ali, Miraj u Deen, Muhammad Bashir and Siraj u Deen.

In 1939, Sharif founded a small steel foundry after selling his farming land.

[3] In 2000, Sharif's family was exiled to Saudi Arabia by then Chief of Army Staff Pervez Musharraf.

[4] Sharif was suffering from chronic heart disease and underwent angioplasty twice.