Born in Hulu Riau (Tanjungpinang in present day) in 1780, Abdul Rahman Muazzam Syah was the son of the 15th Sultan of Johor, Mahmud Shah III with his third wife, Encik Mariam binti Dato' Hassan (died in Lingga, 1831), the daughter of a Bugis nobleman of Sindereng, South Sulawesi.[1]