The son of Kaydar Nasr ibn Abdallah and brother of Muzaffar ibn Kaydar, Malik served under the Turkish general Ashinas during the Amorium campaign against the Byzantine Empire in 838, and he was responsible for pursuing and capturing a number of inhabitants of Ancyra who had fled from the Muslim army. In 839 Ashinas appointed him as resident governor of Egypt, and his administration there was praised by the fifteenth century chronicler Ibn Taghribirdi. After holding the governorship for a little over two years, he was dismissed by Ashinas in favor of Ali ibn Yahya al-Armani in 841. He died in Alexandria in 848.