Of all the Auliyah buried at the Tana Baru Cemetry, Iman Abdullah ibn Abdus Salaam (Tuan Guru), is the best known. He was a prince from Tidore in the Trimate islands, who traced his ancestry to the Sultante of Morocco.

He and others - Callie Abdul Rauf, Noro Imam and Badroedien, were involved in a conspiracy with the English against the Dutch. They were captured by the Dutch and brought to the Cape as State prisoners on 6 April 1780 and incarcerated on Robben Island.

While imprisoned on Robben Island, Imam Abdullah wrote a book on Islamic Jurisprudence and several copies of the Holy Quran from memory. His hand written works on Islamic Jurisprudence, became the main reference work of the Cape Muslims in the 19th century.

On his release from Robben Island in 1792, after twelve years of imprisonment, Tuan Guru went to reside in Dorp Street, then the main residential area of the Muslims in Cape Town.

It was here, in 1793, that he established the Dorp Street Madrasah. Tuan Guru’s first concern was to teach his students, mainly Free Blacks and Eastern slave children, to read and write Arabic. Hence he was nicknamed ‘Tuan Guru’ meaning ‘Mister Teacher!’.

His second concern was acquiring a venue in which to perform Juma’ah. His application for a mosque site was refused. Nonetheless, Imam Abdullah led the Cape Muslims in an open-air Juma’ah in the disused quarry in Chiappini Street. In 1795 he established the first Masjid in South Africa at the Dorp Street Madresa premises. He did all this while the practice of Islam in the Cape was a criminal offense until 1804.