Malik was born in Burnley, Lancashire, in 1967. His father Rafique Malik was a district councillor between 1976 and 2006 and a mayor of Burnley, having emigrated from Pakistan in the 1960s. His mother was a Justice of the Peace. He attended Barden High School and Burnley Sixth Form Centre before studying Business Studies at the South Bank Polytechnic in London and later attending Durham University. Malik is one of seven siblings.

In 2000, Malik was elected as the first non-white member to the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party. He was re-elected each year until 2005 when he stood down after being elected as an MP. Malik sought selection in a number of seats including Leeds Central and Tottenham. In 2002 he had hoped to be selected in his home town of Burnley where Peter Pike had indicated he was standing down. However, the National Executive Committee decided that the Constituency Labour Party should have an all-women shortlist. He then stood for selection in Brent East after Labour lost the 2003 by-election but was left off the shortlist despite having gained the most nominations in the selection process.

In June 2001, Malik was arrested and allegedly beaten by police during racially motivated riots in Burnley. He said he had been trying to stop the violence and told the BBC he had been arrested by “very hyped-up” police. “The riot shields were smashed in my face, causing four to five stitches above the eye, a black eye, lacerations to the arm, bruises on the back of the head, on the body and on the legs.” On leaving Burnley General Hospital Malik said: “No recriminations. This incident should not stereotype all police officers”. No charges were brought by Lancashire Police and Malik was offered an apology.

In April 2003, Malik won a public apology and “substantial” libel damages after being wrongly accused of throwing bricks during the riots in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph on 17 January 2002. Malik’s lawyer told the High Court in London: “At the time referred to in the article, he was in fact acting as a mediator and peacemaker in a volatile situation following disturbances in Burnley.”

In 2004 Malik was selected as the Labour candidate in Dewsbury for the 2005 general election. Labour saw a 6% drop in its vote nationally in 2005, and despite a 4.2% swing to the Conservatives in Dewsbury, Malik comfortably retained the seat for Labour with a majority of 4,615 ahead of Sayeeda Warsi. Upon his election, Malik was one of the first British-born Muslims to become an MP.

Internationally, Malik served Vice-Chair of United Nations body, UNESCO UK, working to engage UK civic society in UNESCO’s work in contributing to world peace, security, justice and human rights, by promoting collaboration between nations on educational, scientific, cultural and communications projects. Malik also served as an international election monitor for the Palestinian Presidential elections in 2005 (and subsequently, as an MP helped monitor the Palestinian Parliamentary elections in January 2006).

At the 2005 House Magazine Awards, his was awarded the best Maiden Speech among the one hundred plus new MPs elected in 2005. In February 2006, he was runner-up in the Channel Four News awards in the ‘Rising Star’ category. Upon election, Malik was appointed to the Home Affairs Select Committee. He also served on the Environmental Audit Select Committee until the cabinet reshuffle of May 2006 when he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the then Minister of State for Schools Jim Knight. He served as an international monitor for the Palestinian Presidential elections in 2005 and Parliamentary elections in January 2006. In June 2007, Malik became Britain’s first Muslim Minister after Gordon Brown appointed him as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for International Development.

Soon after his election to the House of Commons in 2005, Malik became one of the public faces of Muslim leadership in the UK and a leading voice in the battle with Islamic extremism in Britain. In the government reshuffle of 9 June 2009, Malik was given ministerial responsibility for issues of race, faith and community cohesion. In 2008, he was made an honorary Doctor of the University of Bradford for his contributions as Member of Parliament and, in particular, in recognition of the distinctive role he has played in working towards community cohesion and in striving for racial harmony. He served as an Adviser to the government on Community Cohesion following race riots in Bradford, Burnley and Oldham in 2001.

In October 2006 Malik garnered national attention when he spoke out in support of the decision to suspend, and later sack, a Muslim teaching assistant from Dewsbury for refusing to remove her veil in the classroom. Aishah Azmi, 24, was asked to remove her niqab veil after pupils found it hard to understand her during English language lessons. The school said she could wear the veil outside the classroom. Malik said: “In schools the top priority has got to be the education of our children… I believe the education authority has bent over backwards to be accommodating and has been extremely reasonable and sensible in the decision it has come to.””There is no religious obligation whatsoever for Muslim women to cover themselves up in front of primary school children.”

Malik won the Parliamentary pool championship for three years running in 2006, 2007 and 2008, becoming the only MP ever to retain the trophy. Prize money for the championship is donated to charity and Malik donated his winnings of £4,500 to organisations in his constituency. After his 2008 victory, he retired from the competition, saying: “A good champion knows when to hang up his cue and I honestly am starting to feel a bit guilty about winning all the time.”

On 6 October 2006 Malik launched a libel case against both The Dewsbury Press editor Danny Lockwood and former Conservative councillor Jonathan Scott over a letter by Mr Scott criticising the Labour party’s tactics following Scott’s defeat at the Kirklees council elections in May 2006. Malik believing the material amounted to an accusation of racism. The defending newspaper suggested the case was attack on freedom of speech and a petition was presented to the Prime Minister protesting against Malik’s legal action. The petition was dimissed. In a trial at the High Court, despite the country’s most senior Libel Judge, Lord Justice Eady, ruling in favour of Mr Malik giving him victory on three of the four defences that the Press newspaper, Lockwood and Scott had put forward against Mr Malik’s defamation claim, the case ended in a mistrial due to the jury’s inability to arrive at a majority of at least 10 out of 12 on the fourth defence. A retrial was averted after an agreed statement was published vindicating Malik. In the statement, Scott stated “I am happy to make clear that my letter was never intended to accuse Malik of orchestrating gangs of thugs or playing the race card. This was an interpretation some people placed upon my letter and subsequent article, an interpretation with which I disagreed”. Lockwood said, “We want to make it clear that we never accused Shahid of any impropriety whatsoever during the elections”. Malik said, “I am very pleased that after a discussion with Danny Lockwood, he has been able to give me the assurances I required”.

Malik found controversy in February 2007 when he wrote, again in The Times, that the Muslim Council of Britain should “stop whingeing and show leadership.” Referring to their decision not to play a part in Holocaust Memorial Day, Malik wrote: “Its flawed moral leadership places the MCB alongside the likes of the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, as nonattendees.”

On 25 October 2007, while on Government business, Malik was stopped and searched by United States airport security staff at Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. Malik said of the incident: “The abusive attitude I endured last November I forgot about and I forgave, but I really do believe that British ministers and parliamentarians should be afforded the same respect and dignity at USA airports that we would bestow upon our colleagues in the Senate and Congress. Obviously, there was no malice involved but it has to be said that the USA system does not inspire confidence.”

In October 2008, Malik was appointed as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice and in March 2009 was subsequently appointed into a dual role as a Home Office Minister. In June 2009, he was appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Malik and his staff regularly had to intercept abusive and racist communications sent to his offices in Westminster and Dewsbury. In June 2008 Malik acted against YouTube after supporters of the far-right posted a 39-second video clip warning him not to “mess with the big boys”, cutting from a still of the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, to a shot of Malik covered in blood. The video was removed from the site following a further complaint from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Malik is divorced. Over 100 MPs employed a relative on their expenses in 2008; Malik was one of them, having employed his father.

In June 2009 Malik spoke out against comments made by Nicolas Sarkozy after the French President declared the burqa was “not welcome” in France. Sarkozy said: “The burqa is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience.” Malik responded publicly by saying: “It is not the job of government to dictate what people should or should not wear in our society – that is a matter of personal choice.”

On 15 May 2009, Malik stepped down as Justice Minister and Home Office Minister in order to allow the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on Ministerial interests, Sir Philip Mawer, to investigate accusations in The Daily Telegraph that he had breached the Ministerial Code by accepting preferential rent on his office and home. However, the inquiry concluded that he was in fact paying the market rent and Sir Philip cleared him of any breach. On 9 June, Malik rejoined the government as Communities and Local Government Minister.

In December 2009, a 55-year-old man from Woodley, Berkshire pleaded guilty under the Malicious Communications Act of 1988, of sending an indecent or grossly offensive email to Malik for the purpose of causing distress or anxiety. He was fined £200.

In December 2009 an envelope containing suspicious white powder was sent to Malik’s office at the House of Commons, triggering an anti-terrorist investigation. Comments written on the envelope suggested it had been sent by a supporter of the far-right. The substance was later found to be harmless.

At the 2010 general election Malik lost his seat. There had been significant boundary changes in his constituency which he felt had counted against him. Malik commented that the changes “brought in 26,000 extra Tories” from rural areas, including Denby Dale and Kirkburton. In his speech on election night Malik also drew attention to the role played by an independent candidate, Khizar Iqbal. He said Iqbal had been “brought forward not to win but to make sure that I lost”. Iqbal had been supported by anti-sleaze campaigner Martin Bell. Iqbal’s election agent, Jonathan Scott, was also a former Conservative Councillor and had been the election agent for Baroness Warsi in her unsuccessful bid to become the Dewsbury MP in 2005. Councillor Khizar Iqbal was allowed to re-join the Conservative party in May 2011.