SUNAN KUDUS

"Ja'far Sadiq". He is a Commander, High Priest in a royal mosque, and most importantly, he
is one of the Wali Songo. Sunan Kudus was born in 1450 AD in Kudus, Central Java. His
parents were Raden Uthman Haji or better known as Sunan Ngudung and Nyai Anom
Manyuran.
Sunan Kudus is known as a very tolerant person. Just like Sunan Kalijaga and Sunan Bonang,
in his preaching, Sunan Kudus let the existing customs first and did not change his customs.
He thinks that forcing people to convert to Islam is a radical act. Apart from that, Sunan
Kudus also preached by following from behind but also while filling in Islamic teachings in
it. He did this in order to avoid confrontation from the Kudus community.
Sunan Kudus' efforts to spread Islamic teachings were not easy. Moreover, at that time the
people still adhered to the beliefs and customs that existed at that time. The majority of the
Kudus people at that time embraced Hinduism and Buddhism. However, this became an
encouragement for Sunan Kudus to remain patient and maintain his firmness in preaching.
There is a very interesting story from a Sunan Kudus. One day, Sunan Kudus bought a cow
from India which is said to be called kebo gumarang. The cow was kept in Sunan Kudus's
yard. Do you know about cows according to Hindu teachings? In Hinduism, the cow is a
sacred animal because it is considered a vehicle used by the gods. Seeing this, the people of
Kudus then flocked to Sunan Kudus's yard. . Sunan Kudus, who saw this, finally came out of
the house and said: "Sedulur sedulur that I respect, all my relatives that I love, I forbid you
from hurting or slaughtering a cow. Because when I was little, I had a dangerous moment, I
almost died of thirst and a cow came to suckle me.”
Hearing this story, the adherents of Hinduism were amazed. They thought that Sunan Kudus
was the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, so they were willing to listen to his lecture. "In the Al-
Qur'an there is a special sura about cows, in Arabic, namely Al-Baqarah". Hearing this, the
people of Kudus became increasingly interested in the story of Sunan Kudus. This was also
the first time they became interested and voluntarily entered Islam.
Not only that, Sunan Kudus also built a mosque whose architecture is not much different
from the temple building. He did this so that the people of Kudus felt familiar and
comfortable. At the end of his life, Sunan Kudus died in a state of prostration while leading
the morning prayer at the Menara Kudus Mosque. He died in 1550 AD.
The lesson we can take from the story of Sunan Kudus is the importance of maintaining
tolerance between religions in order to maintain national harmony. From this story we can
also learn that we can all live in peace as long as we respect each other and do not force our
beliefs on others. Not only that, from Sunan Kudus we also remember how important it is to
balance the affairs of this world and the hereafter.