الرحلةThe Journey

مخدوم إبراهيم

Sunan Bonang (RH)

Sunan Bonang (Makhdum Ibrahim)

Also known as: Makhdum Ibrahim, Raden Maulana Makdum Ibrahim

c. 869–c. 931 AH · c. 1465–c. 1525 CE

Da'wah Shafi'i Sufism

Son of Sunan Ampel, Sufi poet and teacher of Sunan Kalijaga, who used the gamelan in his teaching.

Sunan Bonang, born Makhdum Ibrahim, was a son of Sunan Ampel and studied with his father. He taught along the north coast at Bonang near Lasem and at Tuban, where he is buried.

He is remembered as a Sufi teacher and poet. The bonang, a set of gongs in the gamelan orchestra, is said to take its name from him, and Javanese mystical poems such as the Suluk Wujil are attributed to him. Tradition makes him the teacher who turned the young Raden Said into Sunan Kalijaga.

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Life journey

  1. c. 1465 CE Surabaya سورابايا
    Born at Ampel, a son of Sunan Ampel.
  2. 1500 CE Tuban توبن
    Died c. 1525 CE · c. 931 AH
    Taught at Bonang near Lasem and in Tuban, where he is buried; the year is approximate.

Teachers

  • Sunan Ampel (RH) c. 1401–c. 1481 CE
    Sunan Bonang learned from his father at Ampel.

Students

  • Sunan Kalijaga (RH) c. 1450–c. 1550 CE
    By tradition, Raden Said became the student of Sunan Bonang, who turned him from robbery to the path of God.

Key works

  • Suluk Wujil
    The Song of Wujil
    A Javanese Sufi poem in which a teacher instructs his servant Wujil on the inner meaning of worship; attributed to him.

Sources

  • M. C. Ricklefs, A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1200 (4th ed., 2008)
  • Agus Sunyoto, Atlas Wali Songo (2012)
  • G. W. J. Drewes, The Admonitions of Seh Bari (1969)
Draft, awaiting scholarly review.
Dates and many details come from later Javanese chronicles (babad) and local tradition, and differ between sources.