An Arab Sufi scholar regarded as one of the first missionaries to bring Islam to the Philippines (late 14th century). Tradition holds he was born near Damascus and reached the Sulu archipelago around 1380 to preach. On Simunul Island in Tawi-Tawi he founded the Sheikh Karim ul-Makhdum Mosque, the oldest known mosque in the Philippines, now a National Historical Landmark. He is said to have died in Simunul and been buried beside the mosque; his tomb is still visited today. Accounts of the early Islamization of Sulu rest partly on oral and hagiographic tradition; this is stated transparently. A pin is added since numeric coordinates exist for his mosque.