Page 139 - NOVOPAZARSKI ZBORNIK 45

Novopazarski zbornik, 45/2022, str. 125-139 139

Fuad Bacicanin
Ras Museum Novi Pazar

MEVLUD IN THE BOSNIAC TRADITION AND MEVLUDS IN THE
BOSNIAN LANGUAGE

Abstract: The celebration of birth of God’s Prophet Mohammed, s.a.w.s., is
deeply rooted in the lives, culture and tradition of numerous Muslim communities.
This tradition of celebrating of Mevlud, the Ottomans brought to the Bosniacs, thus,
a Mevlud, a poem on the birth of the Prophet Mohamed, s. a. w. s., was learned
with the Bosniacs in its original form in the Ottoman language for centuries, as it
was written by Sulejman Celebi even in 1409, in Bursa, under the title “Vesiletu’n
Nedzat”, meaning “The Means (Way) of Salvation”. By the time, Mevluds appeared
in the Bosnian language. The first written ones, were actually the translations of
Celebi’s Mevlud in the Bosnian language, and later on, completely new Mevluds
started to be written, of different length and contents. They were not only poems on
the birth of the Prophet Mohammed, s. a. w. s, but also poems on his mirage, life and
death, and poems on the primary Islamic regulations, history of Islam and similar
topics useful for the life of a Muslim family. The most famous Mevluds in the Bosnian
language were composed by Su-Hafez Salih Gasevic, Arif Brkanic Sarajlija, Hafez
Seid Zenunovic, Safvet-Bey Basagic, Resad Kadic, Vehbija Hodzic, Musa Cazim
Catic, Esref Kovacevic, Nazif Susevic and others. Although the word mevlud (Ar.
mawlid) means “the place or time of someone’s birth”, this expression received
additional meanings since its long lasting: the meaning of birthday of Mohammed,
s. a. w. s., the celebration to be organized due to this occasion or during some more
important events in a life of a Muslim and his family, but it is also a term for a
poem being recited due to these occasions. The year 2022 UNESCO and TÜRKSOY
proclaimed an international year of Sulejman Celebi (1351–1422), for the occasion
of six hundred years of his death. One adaptation of Celebi’s Mevlud originated
exactly in Novi Pazar, and with this paper, having for its base the present papers
being published on this topic by me, where the significance of Mevlud was presented
in a life and culture of a Bosniac, we remember this great author of the Ottoman
literature.

Key words: Mevlud, Bosniac culture, Bosnian language, Prophet Mohammed,
s. a. w. s., Sulejman Celebi, Salih Gasevic, Arif Sarajlija.