He was born in Baramulla in the then princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, but migrated to Pakistan prior to the Partition of India.
[2] On 19 July 1947, at a convention of the Muslim Conference workers was held in Srinagar, Saraf argued for the accession of the state to Pakistan.
In August, following the Partition of British India, Saraf conducted a mission for Chaudhary Hamidullah, the acting president of the Muslim Conference.
[6] In October 1947, Saraf went to Rawalpindi, where the Azad Kashmir provisional government set up by the Muslim Conference was operating from the Paris Hotel.
[7] When the Provisional Government of Azad Kashmir was reconstituted under Sardar Ibrahim Khan on 24 October 1947, Saraf supported it.
[2] In 1975, Saraf was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Azad Kashmir High Court, serving in this post till 1980.
The U. S. Ambassador to Pakistan, Arthur W. Hummel remarked that it appeared to be "a monumental work, representing much research and scholarship".
[10] Being a voluminous piece of work covering a long period of history, the volumes are often cited by scholars, such as Victoria Schofield and Christopher Snedden, for historical information.
[13] Azad Kashmiri journalist Khalid Hasan, who co-edited Memory Lane to Jammu, which included excerpts from Saraf's book, has stated that it is an unsatisfactory account with a "gung-ho, super-patriotic tone", lacking in objectivity.
[15][16] The Sultana Foundation has established a Justice Yusaf Saraf Centre for Research, Rehabilitation & Mainstreaming of Street Children in his honour.