A scholar of the Tidore (Ternate Islands, Indonesia) nobility, exiled by the Dutch to Robben Island in 1780. A hafiz, he wrote copies of the Qur'an and a work on Islamic jurisprudence from memory while imprisoned. Freed in 1793, he settled in Cape Town and founded the Auwal Mosque (1794), the first mosque in South Africa, and its first madrasah. He died in 1807 and was buried at the Tana Baru cemetery in Bo-Kaap; his kramat is among the most revered shrines of the Cape Malay Muslim community. Sources: Cape Mazaar Society; South African History Online; Auwal Masjid archive.