Sunan Gunungjati (1448–1580) was one of the Wali Songo, or Nine Apostles of Islam. He founded the Sultanate of Bantam, as well as the port town of Cirebon on the north coast of Java. He was born Syarif Hidayatullah in AD 1448: the child of a dynastic union between Syarif Abdullah Maulana Huda, an Egyptian of Hashemite descent, and Nyai Rara Santang, daughter of the infamous Prabu Siliwangi, Rajah of Sunda. As such, Syarif Hidayatullah could claim descent, on his paternal side, from the Islamic prophet Mohammed, through his daughter, Fatima; and on his mother's side, from the god-kings of Hindu Sunda.
There is much historical uncertainty as to his early life and later career in the Indonesian Archipelago. Some say that he was born in Pasai, one of the earliest centres of Islam in Southeast Asia; whilst others say that he was born in Pajajaran, capital of his maternal grandfather's Kingdom of Sunda. He is reported to have married a sister of Trenggono, Sultan of Demak, and to have led military expeditions for Demark against Sunda. As Fatahillah - so the story goes - he defeated the Portuguese at their base in Sunda Kelapa, and renamed it Jayakarta in 1527. To this day, his victory over the Portuguese is commemorated as the official anniversary of the founding of Jakarta. The many conflicting stories about Sunan Gunungjati led some scholars to conclude that he might be a conflation of more than one historical figure.[1]
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Syarif Hidayatullah studied Islam under the guidance of venerated scholars in Egypt, some of whom probably included leading Sufis, during his fourteen years of peregrinations overseas. It is assumed that he must have also undertaken his pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina.
Sunan Gunungjati was the only one of the Wali Songo to have assumed a sultan's coronet. He used his kingship - imbued with the twin authority of his paternal Hashemite lineage and his maternal royal ancestry - to propagate Islam all along the Pesisir, or northern coast of Java.
In his dawah he upheld the strict methodology propagated by the sheikhs in the middle east but still remained close to the local people by developing basic infrastructures for them and built road connecting the isolated provinces.
He and his prince Maulana Hasanuddin went into several expeditions particularly in Banten. The leader there then voluntarily submit the leadership to him but eventually was appointed as the new leader of the province which later became the kingdom of Banten.
During his 89 year old age he started to focus on dawah and began appointing a new successor. Pangeran Pasarean later became the new king.
In 1580 Sunan Gunungjati died at the age of 120 in Cirebon. He was buried in Gunung Sembung, Gunung Jati, around 15 kilometer from Cirebon to the west. His tomb has become one of Java's most important pilgrimage points. The tomb enclosure is embedded with porcelain plates, which are replaced with new pieces bought by well wishers. Today the pieces are largely of European or Japanese origin.[2]