The Malik (or Malick, malek. Mallick, Urdu: ملک) are a Muslim community found in the state of Bihar in India. They are also found in the city of Kolkata in West Bengal, in Bangladesh and the Indian diaspora, but large numbers of them migrated to Pakistan following the independence of Pakistan.
History and origin
The group purports its origin to Syed Ibrahim Mallick Baya, a Sufi born near Ghazni (Afghanistan), descended from ancestors who had migrated there from Baghdad..
The Muslim population of Bihar was around 13% before the independence in 1947. At that time, Maliks constituted about 25% of the Muslim population of Bihar, mostly concentrated in the villages and towns in the districts of Patna, Nalanda, Gaya, Jehanabad, Nawada, Arrah, Jamui, Sheikhpura and Munger. .