Malik comes from the covenant of Domus Pacis (or Dar al-Salam).  His mother was one of the chambermaids, and his father a traveler, who stayed for a few weeks, had a fling, and left not long after.  So Malik was a fatherless child, raised by the covenant, growing up to be a Forge-Companion to Esther, the resident Verditius. But at a relatively late age his Gift became apparent, and he became her apprentice, instead.

His apprenticeship went well, the boy developed a strong talent for techniques, and even more of a talent with theory.  As he learned how the limitations of theory were at the core of problems that magic couldn’t solve, and in particular were the barrier to immortality of magi, he developed the ambition to attack those limits, to expand them or break them.  As he learned the history of how hermetic magic was created, he also developed a curiousity about other magical practices, past and present, wondering what secrets could be learned that might aid him with the bigger project.

He stayed at Domus Pacis for a 3 years passing his Gauntlet, long enough to decide that he wanted to stay out of Levantine politics, so he decided that he needed to leave the Levant, if he wanted to be able to research things without the distractions of politics.  He sent correspondence out, looking for a place to settle outside of the Levant, and was invited by a Tytalus acquaintance of his parens to come to a remote covenant in northern Africa that he was founding.