Mount Muria or Gunung Muria is a dormant volcano on the north coast of

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It is located in the center of the Muria peninsula, which juts northward into the Java Sea on the north coast of Central Java, Indonesia east of Semarang, the capital of the province. Mount Muria is 1602 meters high but once was maybe twice that height. Mount Muria was once an island, separated from Java by the Muria Strait. This strait closed around 1657. The Muria area is notable for a number of reasons. It contains the grave sites of two of the

Wali Sanga The Wali Songo (also transcribed as Wali Sanga) are revered saints of Islam in Indonesia, especially on the island of Java, because of their historic role in the spread of Islam in Indonesia. The word ''wali'' is Arabic for "trusted one" ("gua ...

of Java - Sunan Muria, also known as Raden Umar Said, whose grave is in Colo on the southern slopes of Mount Muria, and Sunan Kudus, known also as Ja'far Shadiq, whose grave is in the city of Kudus to the south of Mount Muria. The Wali Sanga are the nine Islamic Saints associated with the origins of Islam in Java. As a consequence the grave is part of the network of sites in Java considered to be

sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

. The name Kudus means "holy." The area is also the locale of the missionary origins of the Muria Javanese Church, Gereja Injili di Tanah Jawa, in whose history the legendary Javanese Christian mystic Kiai Ibrahim Tunggul Wulung played an important role. It is also the area of the missionary origins of the Gereja Kristen Muria Indonesia

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radi ...

Christian group. Major products of this area of Java are rice, sugar, coffee, fish, rubber, coconuts and clove cigarettes.

Abandoned nuclear project

From 1976 to 2015 there was a plan to build a nuclear power plant on Mount Muria. Construction was scheduled to begin in 1997 but halted due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In 2007, construction was scheduled to begin again but was halted by a sudden outbreak of anti-nuclear protests. After the protests continued for several months, the local branch of

Nahdlatul Ulama Nahdlatul Ulama (, , NU) is an Islamic organization in Indonesia. Its membership estimates range from 40 million (2013) to over 95 million (2021), making it the largest Islamic organization in the world. NU also is a charitable body funding sch ...

denounced the project to build on the sacred mountain. They declared that the government's plan was ''

haram ''Haram'' (; ar, حَرَام, , ) is an Arabic term meaning 'Forbidden'. This may refer to either something sacred to which access is not allowed to the people who are not in a state of purity or who are not initiated into the sacred knowle ...

'' because it would force Indonesia to import foreign uranium, hire foreign experts to manage the plant, and pay the costs to dismantle the plant and store the

nuclear waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons ...

indefinitely. The national chairman of NU refused to support the local decision, but said that NU would not overrule a finding by a local branch about matters exclusively pertaining to the local branch. Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the Indonesian government suspended the project. In 2015 the project was permanently halted after nearly 40 years of planning. Indonesia no longer has active nuclear projects.

References

External links

* Links relating to Sunan Muria (Raden Umar Said) *https://web.archive.org/web/20061008224939/http://www.petra.ac.id/eastjava/walisongo/muria.htm Volcanoes of Central Java Stratovolcanoes of Indonesia Pleistocene stratovolcanoes Holocene stratovolcanoes {{Indonesia-geo-stub

Abandoned nuclear project

See also

References

External links