Rabbi Amram ben Ephraim Diwan, spoken of by Moroccan Jews with reverence and awe, was born in Jerusalem around 1740 to a rabbinic family from Diwan in Morocco. Returning to Morocco, he studied at the Neveh Shalom yeshiva of his uncle, Rabbi Yehuda bar Amram Diwan, deepening his knowledge of the revealed and hidden Torah, and then settled in Hebron.

In 1763 the sages of Hebron sent him to Morocco as an emissary to raise funds for the kollelim of the Land of Israel; his letter of appointment called him "the perfect sage, a Sinai and uprooter of mountains". He settled in Ouazzane, where he founded a Talmud Torah and a yeshiva that drew many students, providing for their needs himself with fatherly care. After touring the communities of Morocco he returned to the Land of Israel. According to tradition, he then entered the Cave of the Patriarchs disguised as a Muslim, as Jews were forbidden entry; denounced, he had to flee.

In 1774 he set out on a second mission to Morocco that lasted more than eight years. Tradition credits him with many healings. He fell ill while travelling with his son Chaim and passed away on 15 Av 5542 (1782).

His tomb, at Asjen near Ouazzane, is one of the greatest pilgrimage sites of Moroccan Jewry: thousands come every year, especially on Lag BaOmer.