Peran Sunan Gunung Jati dalam mengembangkan pusat peradaban Islam di Cirebon pada Abad 16

Abstract

In the 16th century, Cirebon emerged as a significant center of Islamic civilization in West Java through the strategic role of Sunan Gunung Jati (Syarif Hidayatullah). As both a political leader and a religious authority, he combined spiritual legitimacy and temporal power to establish an Islamic-based state system that profoundly shaped the social, cultural, and political life of Cirebon. This study aims to examine Sunan Gunung Jati’s contributions to the formation of Islamic civilization in Cirebon and the political and cultural transformations that accompanied it. Employing a qualitative approach with a historical-descriptive method, this research draws on classical manuscripts, royal archives, archaeological findings, and modern scholarly works.  An interpretative analysis is applied to explore the processes of Islamization, governmental structure, cultural symbolism, and the development of socio-religious institutions under his leadership. The findings indicate that Sunan Gunung Jati successfully founded the Cirebon Sultanate in 1479 as a religio-political system integrating da’wah, governance, and military functions. During his reign, Cirebon experienced significant growth in Islamic architecture, Sufi-inspired arts, and religious traditions, while also emerging as a center for Islamic dissemination and regional trade. The study concludes that his success lay in transforming local Sundanese–Javanese culture into an inclusive and adaptive form of Nusantara Islamic civilization.