The Beylik of Dulkadir was founded by Zayn al-Din Qaraja (r. 1337–53), a Turkmen chieftain, as a client state of the Mamluk Sultanate, in southern Anatolia and northern Syria.

With the reigns of Malik Arslan's grandfather, Mehmed (r. 1399–1442), and father, Suleiman (r. 1442–54), the Dulkadirids attempted to forge amicable relations both with the Ottoman state and the Mamluk Sultanate through arranged marriages.

[2] Malik Arslan, together with his father, escorted his sister Sittişah Hatun from the capital Elbistan to Edirne for her wedding with the Ottoman prince and future sultan Mehmed II.

Inal favored Malik Arslan over his paternal uncle Feyyaz, who was the amir al-tabl of Tripoli and had traveled to Cairo to request the manshūr (diploma) that would legitimize his claim to the throne.

[4] At the time of Malik Arslan's accession to the throne, the influence of the Aq Qoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan (r. 1453–1478) over the region had peaked.

Various Turkmen chieftains loyal to the Dulkadirids were joining Uzun Hasan's ranks and took part in the internal conflicts within the Aq Qoyunlu.

However, Ishak would shortly pass away after taking refuge under Uzun Hasan in Amid in April 1465, eventually getting replaced by Pir Ahmed.

[9] Through the negotiations led by Uzun Hasan's vizier, Mawlana Yahya, Malik Arslan agreed to release the prisoners he took and ceded Harpoot to the Aq Qoyunlu in exchange for 4,000 ashrafi gold coins in September 1465.

[11] Ottoman writer Ahmed Arifi Pasha and later historians such as İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı erroneously referred to his deathplace as Cairo, where he was seeking Mamluk help against Uzun Hasan.