Sunan Gunungjati
Sufi saint and famous preacher in Java
Sunan Gunungjati (born: Syarif Hidayatullah (Arabic: شريف هداية الله, Sharīf Hidāyah Allāh); 1448–1568) was one of the Wali Songo or nine saints of Islam revered in Indonesia for the propagation of Islam as the dominant religion in the region. He founded the Sultanate of Banten and the Sultanate of Cirebon on the north coast of Java.
Early life
Gunungjati was born as Syarif Hidayatullah in 1448 CE, the child of a dynastic union between Syarif Abdullah Maulana Huda, a Hashemite of the Azhmatkhan branch of the Ba 'Alawi sada, and Nyai Rara Santang, daughter of Prabu Siliwangi, King of Sunda (Pajajaran). As such, Syarif Hidayatullah could claim descent, on his paternal side, from the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and on his maternal side, from a Hindu Devaraja of the Sunda Kingdom.
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, the capital of his maternal grandfather's Kingdom of Sunda. He is reported to have married a sister of Trenggana, Sultan of Demak, and to have led military expeditions for Demak against Sunda. As Fatahillah defeated the Portuguese at their base in Sunda Kelapa, he 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.
“Sunan Gunungjati” enters the record as sufi saint and famous preacher in Java. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sunan, Gunungjati and Sufi can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Sunan Gunungjati” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Sunan, Gunungjati and Sufi provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4201195. VIAF identifies the subject as 38506824. The Library of Congress control number is n89177480. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1448, 1568 and 1527.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sunan Gunungjati”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sunan Gunungjati primary sources, Sunan Gunungjati archive and Sunan research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sunan Gunungjati”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Sunan Gunungjati” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.