Sunan Bonang


Sunan Bonang was one of the Wali Songo, along with his father Sunan Ampel and his brother Sunan Drajat.
Bonang is a village in Rembang Regency. The name Sunan Bonang maybe is Bong Ang, as his surname Bong like his father name Bong Swi Hoo alias Sunan Ampel.
Sunan Bonang is buried in Bonang Village, but the most pilgrimage grave is in Tuban City. There are two location of Sunan Bonang graves. Because many people say, when he died, the news of his death heard by his student from Madura. The student who admired him want to carry his body to Madura. But he can't, then he just brought his shrouds and clothes. When he pass Tuban, he met another Sunan Bonang's student from Tuban who heard that there are Sunan Bonang's student from Madura carried Sunan Bonang's body to Madura. Then they scrambled each other.
He was a descendant of Majapahit nobility in Tuban and a Chinese captain named Gan Eng Cu. After becoming a prominent ulama, he tried to make ordinary Javanese familiar with Islam. He achieved it through art.
He changed traditional Javanese songs, which had been heavily influenced by Hindu philosophy, and incorporated Islamic thought. He also employed gamelan as medium of Islamic learning. One of his teachings is Tombo Ati, which literally mean "Cures of the Heart".