Sunan Gresik in Picture-Story: The Construction of a Myth

Abstract

In the media of picture-story, with limited historical facts, the myth of Malik Ibrahim as Sunan Gresik creates in a way that would reveal the situation of Islamic culture in Java. Supported by historical backgrounds as the politic turmoil of Majapahit, the establishment of Gresik as an important port-city, and the contemporary pilgrimage tradition which originated from ancient beliefs, the picture-story represents the ideological struggles: while the ancient beliefs could only live in the domination of Islam, the existence of Islam in Java could established only in the pre-Islam way. These two sides became many, as in the real politic the wave of “purification” of Islam take the opportunity of the situation.