His troubled marriage with Mrs. Eleanor Saxby (Nellie) came to an end in 1928, when the mother of his two sons, Ahmed and Abdullah and daughter Zeb-un-Nissa separated from him and married his younger brother S. Shamsher Ali.
A major bustling street in Saddar is named Zaib-un-nissa Street, after the influential author and journalist, Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah.