الرحلةThe Journey

شريف هداية الله

Sunan Gunung Jati (RH)

Sunan Gunung Jati (Syarif Hidayatullah)

Also known as: Syarif Hidayatullah, Sharif Hidayatullah

c. 852–c. 976 AH · c. 1448–c. 1568 CE

Da'wah Shafi'i Sufism

Wali Songo founder of the Sultanate of Cirebon, who spread Islam in western Java.

Syarif Hidayatullah, known as Sunan Gunung Jati, is said in tradition to have been the son of an Arab father and a princess of the Sundanese kingdom of Pajajaran, born abroad and educated in Makkah. He came to Cirebon on the north coast of west Java and became its ruler, founding the Sultanate of Cirebon.

From Cirebon, and with Demak's support, Islam spread through western Java and to Banten, where his son Maulana Hasanuddin became the first sultan. He is buried on the hill of Gunung Jati near Cirebon, from which he takes his name. Some traditions identify him with Fatahillah, who took Sunda Kelapa in 1527; most historians treat them as two people.

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Life journey

  1. c. 1448 CE Makkah مكة
    Traditions place his birth in Makkah or Pasai.
  2. 1470 CE Cirebon چيربون
    Died c. 1568 CE · c. 976 AH
    Came to Cirebon and founded its sultanate; buried on Gunung Jati hill. The year is approximate.

Places in their life

The Ka'bah in al-Masjid al-Haram, Makkah
The Ka'bah in al-Masjid al-Haram, Makkah
Photo: Adli Wahid (minor modifications by Basile Morin), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

  • M. C. Ricklefs, A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1200 (4th ed., 2008)
  • Agus Sunyoto, Atlas Wali Songo (2012)
Draft, awaiting scholarly review.
Dates and many details come from later Javanese chronicles (babad) and local tradition, and differ between sources. Traditions give him a very long life (to about 120).