Pekalongan is a city and seat of Pekalongan Regency on the northern coast of Central Java, Indonesia. The city is Central Java's most important port, and is known for its batik.

The history of Pekalongan dated back to the early 12th century. A book written in 1178 by a Song dynasty official already had record of Pekalongan, then known to Chinese merchants as "Pukalong", it was then a seaport of Java(then known as Dvapa); the king of Java lived at Pukalong, knotted his hair at the back of his head, while his people wore short hair and wrapped their body with colorfully weaved cloth. Chinese merchant ship set sail from Canton during November, with the aid of fair wind sailed nonstop day and night, arrived at Pukalong in about one month. The people made wine from coconuts, produced very delicious red and white cane sugar, the kingdom made coins out of bronze and copper, 60 copper coins exchanged for one tael of gold. Local produces included pepper, clove, sandalwood, eaglewood and white round cardamom.

Muhammad Hisham Kabbani (born 13 Safar 1364 / 28 January 1945) is a prominent Lebanese-American Sufi Muslim. Kabbani advocates an understanding of Islam described by his supporters as fundamentally based on peace, tolerance, respect and love. Kabbani has been an outspoken critic of extremism as well as the Wahabi doctrine. Shaykh Kabbani is a spiritual teacher in the line of the Naqshbandi-Haqqani Sufi Order. He is chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of America and the Sufi Muslim Council.

Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani descends from a long line of scholars, and was born in Beirut, Lebanon. For more than 50 years he has been a disciple of Nazim al-Qubrusi and his representative in United States.

On the order of al-Qubrusi, Kabbani relocated to the United States in 1991, where he has opened 13 Sufi outreach centers focused on spreading Sufism. He has lectured at many universities, including the University of Chicago, Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley, as well as at many spiritual and religious centers throughout North America, Europe, the Far East, and the Middle East.