With less than a week to go before the holy month of Ramadhan, more and more Muslims are visiting the Mbah Priok memorial site in Koja, North Jakarta, as a form of pilgrimage.

Over the weekend, dozens of buses were parked nearby, having dropped off passengers who spent several hours praying at the site where the late Islamic figure Mbah Priok, aka Habib Hasan Muhammad Al Hadad, who was venerated for his efforts to disseminate Islam during Dutch rule in the capital, was thought to have been buried after he died about 200 years ago.

The pilgrims are not only coming from Jakarta, but also from outside the city.

Rukiyah, 50, for instance, came all the way from Rancaekek in Bandung, West Java, to the memorial site with some 500 fellow pilgrims in nine buses. They spent about four hours en route.

“We usually do this ritual every year ahead of Ramadhan to cleanse our souls and pray for our ancestors in hopes that our worship in the holy month is well accepted by God,” Rukiyah said, adding that she and her group plans to go to another memorial site in Banten, Tangerang, after visiting the Mbah Priok site.

Another pilgrim, Sarminah, 63, said the pilgrimage has been her family tradition for generations. She came along with 50 fellow pilgrims from Cilandak, South Jakarta.

“My family has for a very long time been performing the pilgrimage to this site before Ramadhan. I just want to keep the tradition,” Sarminah said, adding she felt her life was filled with blessings by performing the ritual.

She added that the pilgrimage also allows her to meet fellow pilgrims since many Muslims come to perform rituals at the site.

Separately, Wahyudi, the memorial caretaker, said pilgrims number in the thousands as the fasting month approaches.

Wahyudi said on normal days only about 100 pilgrims visit the heritage site.

“Since [the now] non-active governor Basuki ‘Ahok’ Tjahaja Purnama declared this site a cultural heritage site, those who never performed a pilgrimage to this site, also got to know this place,” Wahyudi said.

Earlier in March Ahok protected the Islamic holy place when he signed an inscription that read that the Mbah Priok shrine would be treated as a cultural heritage site.

Several disputes happened in the past between the heirs of Mbah Priok and state port operator Pelindo II when the operators intended to demolish the site for the expansion of the Tanjung Priok Port.

On Saturday evening, a group of people calling themselves Indonesian Citizens in Solidarity held a vigil at the site.

Nong Darol Mahmada, one of the initiators, said the vigil was called “Malam 1,000 Cahaya” (Night of 1,000 Lights) as an act of support for Ahok, who was recently sentenced to two years in prison after being declared guilty of blasphemy against Islam.

Acting Jakarta governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat, who attended the vigil, said that he would continue the programs he had started with Ahok.

“I will wholeheartedly realize all programs that had been planned earlier,” Djarot said.

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