Snouck formed close friendships with some important Islamic scholars in the Dutch East Indies. One of them was Haji Hasan Mustapa, who was initially his assistant and later chief penghulu of Kuta Rajah in Aceh before becoming Bandung's chief penghulu. Snouck appreciated Mustapa for ‘his clear insight into worldly affairs, his aversion to theological hair-splitting, his tendency to cultivate appreciation of the Government's intentions among his compatriots’ and for ‘his sense of indigenous laws and his inclination to peacefully integrate them with Islam.’
Hasan Moestapa, ca. 1915, inv. nr. KITLV 29033 (cutout)