He was born in the Saray neighborhood in the city of Amara, which was founded in 1861. He studied at the Imam al-Sadiq Elementary School for Boys in 1950. He graduated and moved to Al-Majidiya Intermediate School in the neighborhood. He then moved to Al-Amara Preparatory School, located on the main Tigris River, before completing his studies at the University of Baghdad, where he graduated from the Arabic Language Department. He did not delay his studies, but rather excelled at all levels. In addition to his specialization in Arabic, he studied Hebrew and mastered it. He taught for six months in the district of Ali al-Gharbi. He left Iraq for South Yemen after the Ba’ath regime arrested and persecuted members of the Communist Party following the failure of the National Front. He eventually moved to Aden, where he taught at the Teacher Training Institute. He married a woman from the city and settled there for approximately 15 years, during which time he completed his first book, The Emergence and Development of the Short Story in Yemen (A Literary History).