After a long walk from the bus station, and not seeing any woman in hijab, we were further attacked with this image of a mosque-cum-bar building. Yes, it was a mosque, and yet a bar has somehow found its way to intimately attach itself to the sacred place. For once I thought I saw alcohol displayed on the bar's racks. To this, one of my Bosnian friends later corrected me; that they were, despite the bottles, non-alcoholic drinks. Big relief..! Apart from that, there was nothing Islamic about the bar, and its intimate logistic vis-à-vis the mosque doesn't in any way help it look more so. If anything, it was depressing.
We did brave ourselves to walk into the mosque's compound, despite a thousand pairs of eyes staring at us when we were opening its rusted doorgate. Unsurprisingly, it looked deserted. The fountain wasn't giving out any water, there were rolled rags scattering at the mosque's front door, and its windows were so dusty that we couldn't see through them. The imam's grave lying at a corner of its compound added to its gloominess- maybe this mosque, the Lakišića Džamija, died along with his death. I tried the door, and- needless to say- it was locked. We had no choice but to walk out in dissapointment.
No hijab, no actual mosque, and yes bars- what else can this tell us about the growth and popularity of Islam in Bosna, or at least here in Mostar? For us travelers who specifically look for one, it was a big blow to take. The whole situation was harder to accept especially if you knew that in the pre-Tito era, the streets of Mostar were filled with muslim women in niqab, the face covering. Tito came and saw Islam as a threat, so almost nothing was spared. When mosque-incapacitating was deemed not totally effective, muslim dress was banned, forcing the women to turn their own houses into jails. Countless of them were sentenced for life, and many died not seeing much of the sun. However cruel it sounds to us now, it surely has served its purpose as far as Tito was concerned. With these approaches he succesfully curbed Islamic learning, propagation, and soon after, identity. When the new generation was born, Islam was no longer a familiarity.
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All mosques in Mostar are locked except in prayer times. There was a mistake: caffe very close to Lakisica mosque is alcohol free, but others around are not. There is not only problem with Tito, but also with Austrian-Hungary empire, after berlin congress after which is Austria anexed Bosnia. Austrians are caused rise of techinical science and rise of economy, first railway etc. But after 1878. in islamic Mostar, which was famous by mosques and number of hafees and number of medresas (islamic schools), austrians opened bars, hotels, casinos and even public houses (if you know what I mean)... there was a many revolts but WW1 austrians gone and Yugoslav kingdom came, which was actualy serbo-croatian kingdom... muslims are again down... Tito just finished something started with Austrians...
ReplyDelete80% of Mostar surface was hold by muslims, and Tito's public reforms coused that most of that land was abducted by communist aouthorities, and owned by government. Almost all western side of Mostar was built on muslim land. Austrian authorities where removed grand Lakisic's graveyard in center of Mostar and Tito's authorities removed also one grand graveyard and in that place today is a railway station, avenue and other bulidings. There is also more islamic buildings and objects overthrown by Tito's communist authorities like a Baba-Bashir's haram (graveyard) or big Sinan-pasha mosque near old bridge and all remaining medresas. Until 1992, most of mosques are turned into museums for touristic purposes. Until the middle 70's in city of Mostar it was strongly forbidden to go in mosque and UDBA (internal affairs intelligence) was very rigid... In rural areas situation was quite different, and thats why Tito was strive to migrate people from rural to urban areas - it's more easier to control them...
ReplyDeleteNedim, is that you? Thanks for the info, I'll correct them. Yeah, I must've seen something else and thought it was alcohol. Maybe typical alcohol bottles but with juices in??
ReplyDeleteTito's rule is a disaster to us Muslims, I agree. And I went to that Sinan-pasha dzamija to see what remained of the mosque- it was horrible. But alhamdulillah today Islam is thriving again in Bosna. Alhamdulillah.. :)
Oh, by the way, my perceptions on Bosna change with every mile of my travel. This here, is the perception, however inaccurate, that I got at that particular time. InshaAllah I'll tell more about it as we go on :) Keep reading!
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