Description
Mapping Arabic Heritage: Language, Literature and Culture, Past and PresentPaper: 'Sufism and Town-Formation in Bosnia and Herzegovina'
Abstract: Just as Sufism is a part of Arab-Islamic intellectual heritage, Sufi lodges or zawiyahs form a significant part of this civilization’s material legacy. The present paper looks at the role of Sufi lodges in the formation, as well as subsequent further urban development of Bosnian towns in the early centuries of Ottoman rule in Bosnia. It examines a number of examples which show how these edifices, with dual spiritual and humanitarian role, in many cases represented a corner-stone for the development of new Middle Eastern-style towns in Bosnia. Some towns developed on sites of already existing smaller settlements or villages, but many Bosnian towns sprang up around or in the vicinity of a Sufi zawiyah in areas which had previously contained no settlements at all. In the early centuries of Ottoman rule in Bosnia, the 15th and the 16th centuries, Sufi lodges were built by both unknown Sufi settlers and high-ranking Ottoman officials, who were patrons of Sufism. Whether modest, small, one or two-room houses by the road, or more substantial buildings with lodgings for young Sufi apprentices, dhikr and prayer rooms, courtyards and fountains, the Sufi lodges in all cases served as foundation stones for urban development of an area. The paper examines more closely several representative cases of zawiyahs which were the earliest edifices built on the site of today’s Bosnian capital of Sarajevo and were at the heart of its urban development.
| Period | 15 Apr 2014 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Sharjah, United Arab EmiratesShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |