Djelo Sübülü’l-hudā (staze upute) kao prilog historiji znanja i naučavanja vjere
The Treatise Sübülü’l-Hudā (Paths of Guidence) as a Contribution to the History of Religious Knowledge and Instruction

Summary/Abstract: This paper analyses the treatise Sübülü’l-hudā by Belġrādī, with a focus on two preserved copies: R-826/1 from the Gazi Husrev-beg Library in Sarajevo and K-0897 from the Muallim Cevdet Collection at the Atatürk Library in Istanbul. Through a detailed comparative analysis of the manuscripts’ structure, content, and graphic elements, the study highlights the author’s pedagogical intent to make religious prescriptions accessible to ordinary believers. Belġrādī employs vernacular Turkish, a simple style, and a didactic approach to explain core dogmatic and legal aspects of Islamic belief, including issues such as the createdness of the Qur’an, anthropomorphism, and regulations concerning ritual purity and prayer. Special emphasis is placed on the author’s awareness of the social context and the need to educate believers at a time when heterodox movements and low literacy posed challenges to the preservation of orthodox faith. The author references more than 65 authoritative works from the Islamic legal tradition, while identifying the Qur’an and Hadith as his primary sources. The treatise emerges not only as a theological manual, but also as a cultural-historical document reflecting the religious life of Muslims in the Ottoman context of the 16th and 17th centuries. The aim of this study is to deepen the understanding of the broader historical reality of the period, in which religion formed the foundation of everyday life. Sübülü’l-hudā is thus viewed as a mirror of its society—its needs, challenges, and values—and as testimony to the role of scholars in shaping religious consciousness and practice.

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