Born in 1710 in the village of Lok Gabang, South Kalimantan, Muhammad Arsyad al-Banjari is one of the greatest Shafi'i scholars of Southeast Asia. After more than thirty years of study in Mecca and Medina, he returned to Banjar and founded a circle of learning that became the region's centre of jurisprudence. He is renowned for his work 'Sabil al-Muhtadin', which served for centuries as a foundational fiqh manual across the Malay-Indonesian world and gave its name to the Grand Mosque of Banjarmasin. He served as mufti of the Banjar Sultanate. He died on 13 October 1812 and was buried in the village of Kalampayan in Astambul; his tomb, known as 'Datu Kalampayan', is one of the largest pilgrimage sites in Kalimantan.