Teungku Haji Abdul Manaf el-Zamzami, known by the pen name Amelz, was born on 25 January 1921 and died on 23 February 1982. A graduate of Madrasah Sa‘adah Abadiyah in Blang Paseh, Sigli, he began as a journalist: editor of Penerangan Islam in Bukittinggi and editor-in-chief of Majalah Widjaja in Medan (1939–1942), editor of Atjeh Sinbun in Kutaraja under the Japanese occupation, and after independence director of the daily Semangat Merdeka in Kutaraja. He sat on the working committee of the Aceh legislature, the Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP) and the executive of the North Sumatra legislature, then served in the parliament of the United States of Indonesia (1950), the Provisional DPR (1950–1956) and the Constituent Assembly for Masyumi (1956–1959). He is also recorded as the founder of the Jakarta publishing house Bulan Bintang. His best-known book is the biography H.O.S. Tjokroaminoto: Hidup dan Perdjuangannja (1952), and he belongs to the generation of Acehnese intellectuals without foreign degrees who worked nationally alongside Hasbi Ash-Shiddieqy, Aboebakar Atjeh and Ali Hasjmy.