KariA‡i
KariA‡i mosque into the key Bosnian highlands, where the annual three-day pilgrimage commemorating Hajdar-dedo KariA‡a€”an very early messenger of Islam in Bosnia, a dervish sheikh, and a friend of Lord (evlija)a€”takes spot. Photograph by David Henig, 2009.
Although Yugoslav communist routine oppressed and practiced popular control of different spiritual symptoms and gatherings, they wouldn’t exclude the KariA‡i pilgrimage, which happens to be possibly exceptional because pilgrimage have historically recently been well-attended ( MulahaliloviA‡ 1989 :192a€“196). In 1993, inside Bosnian fight (1992a€“95) a Yugoslav nationwide military tank forced throughout the ancient wooden mosque. The landscape is at enough time barely accessible, as there had been most landmines scattered in the earth across pilgrimage website, extremely local Muslims briefly structured the yearly party in a neighboring provincial village mosque. Bash fight, the marketplace was slowly and gradually de-mined. The wood mosque would be rebuilt in 2002 and so the pilgrimage entirely restored.
Although its recovery got caused by a small group of neighborhood operating Muslims, the mosque along with area they rests in are generally basically had and use of them is actually subject to the state-approved Islamic area (Islamska Zajednica). The Islamic neighborhood can be the cause of planning the yearly KariA‡i pilgrimage. The pilgrimage takes place after July. The time are relied according to the old Julian schedule due to the fact 11th Tuesday after Jurjevdan (in other words., St. George’s night, May 6). The pilgrimage begins by tuesday’s noon prayer and persists up until the Sunday midday prayer. Merely male Muslims are allowed to enroll in at KariA‡i.
The pilgrimage gathering usually consists of reciting associated with the entire Qua€™ran (hatma dove), vocal songs revering Allah (ilahija), as well as other performances for example the performance of mevlud verses in both Turkish and Bosnian, tevhid for Ottoman not to mention Bosnian martyrs (A?ehide), and collective devotional and ecstatic prayer, kijam zikr (Arabic, qiyam dhikr). 2 The kijam zikr is performed by dervishes and encouraged by a dervish sheikh. Various other pilgrims often witness in place of be a part of this kind of prayer, as dervishes have historically really been developed of ambiguously and are seen as the Islamic a€?other withina€? through the previous Yugoslavia ( Bringa 1995 :221; Duijzings 2000 :107). However, the devotional prayer inside pilgrimage has also been sang during socialist instances. This could be arguably significant, since, for the 1950s, the Islamic area, on your Yugoslav condition’s aid, prohibited all dervish instructions in Bosnia-Herzegovina if you are a€?devoid of educational valuea€? ( Algar 1971 :196). 3
Unlike the situation of this old-fashioned cradles of Bosnian Sufism because of their old dervish lodges inside the western elements of central Bosnia (cf. Algar 1971 ; A?ehajiA‡ 1986 ; MiA?ijeviA‡ 1997 instasext login ), the continuity of dervish assignments ended up being cut through the northern devices. For this reason, KariA‡i continues publicly provided and comprehended forever only as the place of Muslim yearly pilgrimage. However, during the late 1980s, a dervish set of the Rifaa€™i order, that we have likewise learnt, was actually established in the region. 4 in hunt for reliability and so the restoration of Sufi schooling (tesavuf) in your community, the students entwined their personality making use of the old figure of Hajdar-dedo KariA‡. Although the dervish collection these days traces their name through the sheikh’s a€?spiritual lineagea€?(silsila) to Kosovo, the dervishes take into account KariA‡i her spiritual cradle, and so they get pregnant of Hajdar-dedo KariA‡ while the messenger of Sufism in your community in addition to their spiritual forefather.
Ajvatovica
The Ajvatovica pilgrimage plays an important function into the ways town Muslims through the crucial Bosnian highlands think about the transformation of consecrated landscapes a€?after socialism.a€? Inside their narratives and everyday shows, our town relatives frequently juxtaposed KariA‡i and Ajvatovica pilgrimages. But almost all of these haven’t pilgrimed to Ajvatovica.
The Ajvatovica pilgrimage, next to the town of Prusac, holds legends very similar to those of the KariA‡i webpages, as far back as the 17th hundred years and regarding another famous messenger of Islam, effendi (and perhaps dervish sheikh) Ajvaz-dedo. The legends say that Ajvaz-dedo got somebody of goodness (evlija). As he found Prusac, there clearly was no the proper water supply inside town. There was merely a spring at the community, it got plugged by a rock. Ajvaz-dedo put 40 days wishing to Allah, and also on the 40th morning he or she dreamed about two light rams colliding. When he woke awake, the stone received separated in two. Hometown villagers experience this as magic (keramet) and advantage (bereket), and, from the time of, have pilgrimed to the place where rock split.
Unlike the KariA‡i pilgrimage, the Ajvatovica got technically banished inside socialist duration, in 1947 (cf. MulahaliloviA‡ 1989 :192a€“196), and was revived only near 1990, mainly by the engagement associated with Islamic Community; various media, like the Islamic weekly publication Preporod; and so the Stranka Demokratske Akcije (SDA; Party of Democratic Action), led at the moment by Alija IzetbegoviA‡. The location where Ajvatovica pilgrimage web site is situated was handled and defended throughout the conflict by way of the Bosnian army, and, hence, through open rhetoric, achieved the type of a holy land, revealing the continuity of a threatened Muslim people and its own national legacy (cf. Rujanac in press ).
It fast grew to be very clear if you ask me that ways the Ajvatovica pilgrimage is orchestrated currently plays an important role in Bosnian Muslim nationwide public government, as ruled through Islamic society, and calculating plainly in hometown discussions. Ajvatovica try recommended through Islamic people while the big yearly Muslim getting in European countries, one with extended continuity, inspite of the formal bar imposed in 1947. Because they’re orchestrated and choreographed, a€?The times of Ajvatovicaa€? (Dani Ajvatovice) uncover as an assemblage of spiritual pilgrimage, political obtaining, and social celebration comprised of a variety of competition, gigs, and lessons which can be widely marketed and promoted through the Islamic area through numerous billboards. The Ajvatovica pilgrimage was displayed, to paraphrase different nearby sources, as a a€?manifestation of history and permanent continuity of Bosniak [Muslim] identification and culturea€? even though the a€?largest Muslim acquiring in Europea€? (e.g., read Ajvatovica.org.ba 2010 ). Additionally, within my fieldwork, I was continuously advised that Ajvatovica had previously been an all-male obtaining, although after 1990 it had been publicly advertised within the nationalized rhetoric as a gathering for all the Muslims. Put simply, the Ajvatovica pilgrimage ended up being reorchestrated and instrumentalized in Bosniak governmental discourse as a fertile icon in post-Yugoslav open public debates on combined Bosnian Muslim character as well as in Bosniaksa€™ look for authenticity as an impartial post-Yugoslav usa (nacija).
Connect with us