Religion
Hinduism and Buddhism once dominated the island, however Islam, gradually supplanted Hinduism in the 14th and 15th centuries (see the spread of Islam in Indonesia). The last nobles and loyalists of the fallen empire of Majapahit fled from this point to Bali. Islam spread from northern cities in Java where traders from Gujarat, India brought with them Islam. The eastern part of East Java, from Surabaya to Pasuruan, and the cities along the coast, and back to Banyuwangi to Jember, are known as the "horseshoe area" in context with earlier Muslim communities living there.
Pockets of Hinduism remain, and syncretic abangan streams of Islam and Hinduism remain strong (see Hinduism in Java).
Read more about this topic: East Java
Famous quotes containing the word religion:
“The religion which is to guide and fulfill the present and coming ages, whatever else it be, must be intellectual. The scientific mind must have a faith which is science.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The religion of England is part of good-breeding. When you see on the continent the well-dressed Englishman come into his ambassador’s chapel and put his face for silent prayer into his smooth-brushed hat, you cannot help feeling how much national pride prays with him, and the religion of a gentleman.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Religion is a great force: the only real motive force in the world; but what you fellows don’t understand is that you must get at a man through his own religion and not through yours.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)