Kudus City

Kudus was something of an important Islamic holy city in the sixteenth century. It is the only place in Java that has permanently acquired an Arabic name ('al-Quds', Jerusalem). Sunan Kudus, one of the nine Wali Songo, was said to have been the fifth imam (head) of the mosque of Demak and a major leader of the 1527 campaign against 'Majapahit', before moving to Kudus.

The Mosque of Kudus (Masjid Menara) which dates from this period, remains a local landmark to this day. It is notable for both its perseverance of pre-Islamic architectural forms such as Old Javanese split doorways and Hindu-Buddhist influenced Majapahit-style brickwork, and for its name a;-Manar or al-Aqsa. The date AH 956 (AD 1549) is inscribed over the mihrab (nice indicating the direction of Mecca).

Most residents of Kudus are Javanese although there is an Indonesian Chinese minority in the city centre, as well as an Arab neighbourhood, Kudus Kulon, to the west of the city centre. The city is considered the "birthplace" of the kretek clove cigarette, which is by far the most widely-smoked form of tobacco in the country. Haji Jamahri, a resident of the city, invented them in the 1880s, and the city remains a major centre for their manufacture.

A festival named Dandangan is held for about one week at Muslim's Id Qurban in Kudus Kulon

source : http://kudus.multiply.com/