Muslims visit Sunan Ampel's grave

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