Sheikh Haji Musthafa Husein Nasution al-Mandili (1886–1955) was among the foremost ulama of Mandailing. In Mecca he studied under great scholars such as Sheikh Ahmad Khatib al-Minangkabawi and Abdul Qadir al-Mandili. The madrasa he began at Tano Bato in 1912 he moved to Purba Baru in 1915, founding the Musthafawiyah pesantren — the oldest surviving Islamic boarding school in Sumatra. His grave, in the cemetery opposite the pesantren, is a site of visitation.