Sunan Ampel Mosque a witness to religious devotion<\/p>\n
By Santi W.E. Soekanto and Wisnu Pramudya<\/p>\n
SURABAYA (JP): It's 3:50 a.m. Only minutes before the call for
\nthe subuh (dawn) prayer was sounded by the muezzin of the Sunan
\nAmpel Mosque. An elderly woman with mukena (white cloak worn for
\nprayer) fingered her prayer beads so rapidly that her movement
\nlooked fluid. Eyes closed tightly, she was lost in her devotion.<\/p>\n
The separate room to the side of the main hall of the 15th
\ncentury mosque was packed with women who either came from other
\ntowns and who stayed the night there or women who lived nearby.
\nDiscreetly veiled, all were waiting for the adzan (call to
\nprayer).<\/p>\n
A woman in her early twenties paused from her dzikir (praises
\nof Allah) and smiled. \"I came from Sidoarjo (24 km south of
\nSurabaya) yesterday. I have a two-day vacation from work, so I
\nthink it's better for me to spend it here,\" she said. \"Paying my
\nrespect to Sunan Ampel. My teacher said it's good, it will
\nstrengthen my faith.\"<\/p>\n
\"Oh yes, I also went to Mbah (Grandma) Muning's grave
\nyesterday, not far from here. To pray,\" said Ani, who is a
\nfactory worker, \"Also to strengthen my faith. And...I don't
\nknow...may be I can finally get a husband.\"<\/p>\n
A woman in her early thirties scrambled to get up when the
\ncongregation finish praying. Noiselessly, she left the room and
\nheaded to another part of the mosque complex filled with tombs.
\nIn front of the grave of Mbah Bolong, a disciple of Sunan Ampel,
\nand right under a frangipani tree, she spread a woven bamboo mat,
\nplaced a well-read Koran on a small pillow she had brought with
\nher, and started to chant the verses.<\/p>\n
\"I come here often because I live nearby,\" Sofia said. \"People
\nsay that praying here is much more fruitful. I hope Allah will
\ngive me His blessings here...I've been married for 10 years and I
\nstill don't have any children.\"<\/p>\n
Meters away from Sofia, a group of boys scurried to fill
\ndozens of bottles with water drawn from a well in a part of the
\nmosque which is currently being renovated. \"This water is
\nblessed, because it came from the Sunan's well,\" one of them
\nsaid. \"It's not for sale. But if you want it, you can give me Rp
\n1,000.\"<\/p>\n
\"What's the water for? Oh, for many purposes. You can use the
\nwater to take an oath. For instance, if you want to say you're
\ninnocent of some accused crime. You say your oath, and then drink
\nthe water,\" the 14-year-old boy said. \"If you're really innocent,
\nnothing will happen to you. But if you're not, who knows what
\nwill happen to you?\"<\/p>\n
The boy said he \"gave\" the water to most of the pilgrims who
\ncome from just about every corner of the country to pray at the
\nmosque and pay homage to the grave of Sunan Ampel, one of the
\nnine respected Moslem scholars who brought Islam to Java
\ncenturies ago.<\/p>\n
\"Because the water is blessed by the Sunan,\" he said,
\nindicating a great understanding of just how great a standing the
\nSunan had among Indonesian Moslems.<\/p>\n
The mosque and the graves of the Sunan and his disciples have
\nbeen for hundreds of years witness to this curious mixture of
\nreligious devotion and elements of local beliefs and rituals.<\/p>\n
Bid'ah<\/p>\n
Some Moslem scholars may consider the elements bid'ah (rituals
\nwhich were never taught by Islam) but many of those visiting the
\nmosque have no trouble combining their religious devotion with
\nthose elements.<\/p>\n
The Prophet Muhammad, for instance, never taught followers to
\nrequest anything, including blessings, from anybody but Allah.
\nNobody, not even a Wali (or an Islamic \"saint\" such as Sunan
\nAmpel) could grant anybody any wish but for the permission of
\nAllah.<\/p>\n
Iyyaka na'budu waiyyaka nasta'in, says a verse in the Sura Al-
\nFatihah, which means \"Only You Allah we worship, and only to you
\nwe turn to for help\".<\/p>\n
But when one speaks of Sunan Ampel and the mosque it's easier
\nto understand why so many people combine their religious devotion
\nwith local rituals. It's because of the legends surrounding the
\nWalis; the following are some of the legends:<\/p>\n
In a plot east of the main hall of the mosque, one can find
\nnine graves all belonging to Mbah (Grandpa) Sholeh, a disciple
\nand hard-working janitor of the mosque during Sunan Ampel's
\nlifetime. It is said that the man died nine times.<\/p>\n
Once, after Sholeh died, Sunan Ampel said he wished Sholeh was
\nstill alive because only he could sweep the mosque as clean as
\nthe Sunan wished. Suddenly, Sholeh appeared in one corner of the
\nmosque, busily sweeping. Several months later, he \"died\" again
\nand was buried not far from his first grave. This happened nine
\ntimes, people said.<\/p>\n
Another famous disciple buried inside the compound is Mbah
\nBolong or Shonhaji. As legends have it, Shonhaji was the man who
\nascertained the kiblat (the direction Moslems face when saying
\ntheir prayers) when the Sunan Ampel Mosque was being built.<\/p>\n
It is said that during construction, some workers asked
\nShonhaji whether the mosque was facing the right direction, to
\nthe Kaaba in the Holy Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Shonhaji
\nbored a hole in the western wall of the mosque, and said,
\n\"There's Kaaba!\". Sure enough, the workers saw the black-draped
\nKaaba through the wall.<\/p>\n
Mosque<\/p>\n
The mosque itself, formerly known as Ampel Mosque, is said to
\nhave been built in 1421. Even now, despite several expansions and
\nrenovations, the original construction remains.<\/p>\n
It is located in Kampung Arab, an old city quarter of ethnic
\nArabs from Yemen, squeezed in among small alleys packed with
\nsmall traders. Dede Oetomo, a sociologist in Surabaya, described
\nthe community in the May 1995 issue of Discovery magazine as
\nfollows: \"Kampung Arab is where the sailors and traders of Arabia
\nfirst settled, bringing with them their culture, their cuisine,
\nand, above all, their religion...<\/p>\n
\"Branching off the narrow confines of Jalan Ampel Suci are
\ntidy alleyways lined with neat, prim, iron-fenced
\nhouses....Strolling through the bazaar that is Jalan Ampel Suci,
\none's senses are assailed by a symphonic blend of brilliant
\ncolors, heady scents and Arabic-sounding music.<\/p>\n
\"Crouching women mix and blend spices and vegetables for meals
\nand snacks. Arabic-looking men in sarongs brew coconut water and
\nbrightly-colored liquid to serve as sweet delights to eagerly
\nwaiting children.<\/p>\n
\"Lengths of brightly hued fabrics and batik flutter in the
\nbreeze. Hats from every corner of the Indonesian
\narchipelago...Worry beads hang like strands of colored pearls
\nalongside glittering golden-toned bangles and necklaces of
\nsemiprecious stones.\"<\/p>\n
The mosque itself was built by the disciples of Sunan Ampel,
\nincluding Mbah Shonhaji and Mbah Sholeh and other santri (strict
\nadherent of Islam) who, compared to the Hindu majority, were only
\na handful then. The original 2,068-square-meter construction was
\nsupported by 16 ebony pillars, 17 meters in height and without
\njoints.<\/p>\n
In 1926 it underwent renovation, followed by a second
\nrenovation in 1954. In 1972, it was expanded by 1,320 square
\nmeters, and the then House speaker KH Idham Chalid officiated the
\nproject.<\/p>\n
In June 1992, business tycoon Probosutedjo agreed to finance
\nthe next renovation of the mosque at an estimated cost of Rp 500
\nmillion (US$218,150 by current exchange). The project was
\nfinished a year later and was officiated by Minister of
\nInformation Harmoko.<\/p>\n
However, there were other parts of the mosque needing
\nrenovation. So the East Java administration set a budget of Rp 1
\nbillion for the project. There were some reports of complaints by
\nlocal residents who would lose parts of their houses to the
\nproject, or whose houses had to be demolished. But all was
\neventually resolved.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sunan-ampel-mosque-a-witness-to-religious-devotion-1447893297",
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