Mevlana and the Mevlevi in Bosnia Cover Image

Mevlana i mevlevije u Bosni
Mevlana and the Mevlevi in Bosnia

Author(s): Sedad Dizdarević
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion
Published by: Naučnoistraživački institut »Ibn Sina«
Keywords: Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi; the Mevlevi tariqat; Mesnevi; Bosnia and Herzegovina

Summary/Abstract: Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, probably the greatest and the most important teacher, Gnostic and poet in the world, created and left behind him an important mark in the history of Islamic and world culture and civilisation. His influence spread across the world in two ways – through his writing, primarily the ‘Mesnevi’, and the Mevlevi tariqat, which cherished and spread his thought and rich tradition, engendered from historical and pseudo-historical sources. Numerous researchers such as Reynolds Nicholson, Annemarie Shciemmel, Abdulbaki Golpinarli, Ikbal Afzal, Abdulhuseyn Zarinkub and, more recently, Franklin Luis, have written about the role of Mevlana, his work and the Mevlevi tariqat in different historical periods, different parts of the world and different cultural centres. In our country, professor Dzemal Cehajic, as well as Sulejman Kemura, Slobodan Ilic, Mahmud Traljic and others, produced key works on the topic. However, in light of the significance and impact of ‘Mesnevi’ and the Mevlevi tariqat in BiH in terms of creation and development of Islamic culture, this area requires further elaboration. It should be noted that in our history, Mevlana and his ‘Mesnevi’ were forerunners of Islamic tasawwuf in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The greatest researcher of tasawwuf in former Yugoslavia, the late Dzemal Cehajic, argued that the Mevlevi tariqat played a key role in the spread of Islam and Islamic culture in BiH in the first century of the Ottoman rule. This paper tries to shed more light on this fact, as well as some other issues related to the Mevlevi tariqat and Mevlana, i.e. his ‘Mesnevi’, in BiH.

  • Issue Year: 2008
  • Issue No: 39-40
  • Page Range: 94-106
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Bosnian