Muslims visit Sunan Ampel's grave

SURABAYA, East Java: In the run-up to the fasting month of Ramadhan, tens of thousands of Muslims have been making a pilgrimage every day to the tomb of the noted Muslim cleric, Sunan Ampel, in the capital of East Java, Surabaya.

"More than 10,000 Javanese Muslims, from numerous cities in East and Central Java, have made a pilgrimage to Sunan Ampel's grave in the last two weeks before Ramadhan," Suryansyah, secretary of the Sunan Ampel Grand Mosque, said here on Tuesday.

He said more and more visitors were expected to visit the grave in the next four days because many students at Islamic and state schools would have holidays in observance of the fasting month.

Ishak, a pilgrim from Lamongan in the province, said he had visited the tomb annually prior to the fasting month for the past five years and such a pilgrimage had been a tradition for his family.

"I will come here again by the end of the fasting month," he said. --Antara