Through his father, Zairullah was the grandson of the Kazakh mırza Abdullah Sultan, who was best known for rising to the royal ranks after completing his hajj from his home in modern-day Nur-Sultan to Mecca.
Facing threats in the west from the Buddhist Kalmyks and the Qing Chinese to the east, Nur Ali Khan spent much of his time gathering resources and forming strong troops to prevent his state from crumbling to expanding foreign neighbors.
Nur Ali Khan was initially hesitant to accept Russian rule as he thought it would erase the cultural identity of the Turko-Persian, Sunni Muslim Kazakhs.
Though his father made an alliance with the Russian Empire to protect the Kazakh Khanate from foreign enemies, Nur Ali Khan broke the alliance and waged war against the Russian Empire in 1752.
His younger brother, Jar Muhammad Khan, took over the throne of the Junior jüz in his place for a few years and exiled him to the Russian trading town of Ufa.