The university took its name from the Sharifate of Mecca, Barkat Ali ibnu Sharif Ajlan ibnu Sharif Rumaithah, known as Sultan Sharif Ali, who was a descendant of Islamic Prophet Muhammad and appointed as the third Sultan of Brunei after marrying the daughter of the previous Sultan. He was the first sultan to build a mosque in Brunei; it was destroyed during Allied bombing in 1945/46.[2]