Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang (Islamic University of Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang) was established based on Presidential Decree No. 50 dated June 21, 2004. It originated from the idea of East Java figures to establish an Islamic higher education institution under the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The Committee for the Establishment of IAIN Surabaya Branch was formed through the Minister of Religious Affairs Decree No. 17 of 1961, tasked with establishing the Faculty of Sharia located in Surabaya and the Faculty of Tarbiyah (Education) located in Malang. Both were branch faculties of IAIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta and were inaugurated simultaneously by the Minister of Religious Affairs on October 28, 1961. On October 1, 1964, the Faculty of Ushuluddin (Theology/Islamic Principles) was also established in Kediri through the Minister of Religious Affairs Decree No. 66/1964.

In its development, these three faculties were merged and structurally placed under the Institute of Islamic Religion (IAIN) Sunan Ampel, which was established based on the Minister of Religious Affairs Decree No. 20 of 1965. Since then, the Faculty of Tarbiyah Malang became a branch faculty of IAIN Sunan Ampel. Through Presidential Decree No. 11 of 1997, in mid-1997, the Faculty of Tarbiyah Malang IAIN Sunan Ampel changed its status to State Islamic College (STAIN) Malang, along with the institutional status change of all branch faculties within IAIN across Indonesia, totaling 33 institutions. Thus, since that time, STAIN Malang was an autonomous Islamic higher education institution, separate from IAIN Sunan Ampel.

In its strategic development plan, as stated in the STAIN Malang Ten-Year Strategic Development Plan (1998/1999-2008/2009), STAIN Malang aimed for a change in its institutional status to a university during the second half of its development period. Through earnest efforts, the proposal to become a university was approved by the President via the Decree of the President of the Republic of Indonesia No. 50, dated June 21, 2004, and was inaugurated by the Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare, Prof. HA Malik Fadjar, M.Sc, on behalf of the President on October 8, 2004, with the name State Islamic University (UIN) Malang. Its main task is to organize higher education programs in the fields of Islamic religion and general sciences. Therefore, June 21, 2004, is designated as the birthday of this University.

It was briefly named the Indonesian-Sudanese Islamic University (UIIS) as an implementation of cooperation between the Indonesian and Sudanese governments and was inaugurated by the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, Dr. (Hc) H. Hamzah Haz, on July 21, 2002, which was also attended by high-ranking Sudanese government officials. Academically, this University specifically develops knowledge not only derived from scientific methods through logistical reasoning such as observation, experimentation, surveys, interviews, and so on, but also from the Qur’an and Hadith, which is subsequently referred to as the integration paradigm. Therefore, the position of Islamic studies courses: al-Qur’an, Hadith, and Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) becomes very central within this framework of scientific integration.