He was born in Breyten, Transvaal (now Gauteng) to Haji Yusuf Ahmed Timol and Hawa Ismail Dindar.
Timol received a scholarship from the Kholvad Madressa in Surat, to pursue a teaching course at the Johannesburg Training Institute for Indian Teachers (JTIIT), at the time the only institution of higher education for Indians in the Transvaal.