The 'Agung Mosque in the city of Cirebon is one of the
oldest mosques in Indonesia. It is located on the west side
of the field opposite the Kraton Kasepuhan. It has a tiered
roof and is similar in style to the Agung Mosque in Banten.
By the end of the 16th century, Islam, through conversion
firstly amongst the island's elite, had surpassed Hinduism
and Buddhism as the dominant religion in Java. During this
era, the Islamic kingdoms of Demak, Cirebon, and Banten were
ascendant. The Mataram Sultanate became the dominant power
of central and eastern Java at the end of the 16th century.
The principalities of Surabaya and Cirebon were eventually
subjugated such that only Mataram and Banten were left to
face the Dutch in the 17th century.
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
|