Mehmed Handžić
Sunni | |
---|---|
Alma mater | Al-Azhar University (1931) |
Organization | |
Founder of | El-Hidaje |
Mehmed Handžić (16 December 1906 – 29 July 1944) was a
Handžić was born in
Handžić's political career began with his candidacy in the
Early life and education
Mehmed Handžić was born in 1906 in
Academic career
Handžić became a professor at the Gazi Husrev-beg
Handžić was the leader of an Islamic revivalist movement in Bosnia, which sought to return to what it viewed as traditional Islam, in opposition to a freely-interpreted Quran or easy acceptance of European modernity. On 8 March 1936, Handžić, together with his associates, founded the association El-Hidaje (The Right Path), which gathered religious scholars, müderris, aʼimmah and other intellectuals of the revivalist current.[6][5][8] The association also founded a newspaper, also called El-Hidaje, in December 1936; Handžić became editor-in-chief in August 1937.[9] Handžić became President of El-Hidaje in 1939.[5] Under his leadership, El-Hidaje grew from an organization representing the 'ilmiyya (body of Ulama[10]) to becoming the leading organization of the revivalist movement meant to encompass all Muslims of Bosnia.[3]
Written work
Most of Handžić's works are about Islamic tradition and ethics.[11] In the late 1930s, Handžić wrote several short Qur'anic commentaries in Arabic. In 1941, he wrote a textbook titled An Introduction to the Science of Tafsīr.[a] At religious high schools in Bosnia, this work is still used as the main textbook for tafsir subjects.[12]
Political career
Handžić's political career began when he was a candidate on the
In April 1941, when Axis powers invaded Yugoslavia, the Independent State of Croatia (an Ustaše-led Axis puppet state) was established to which Muslim political and religious elites gave their allegiance.[15] This included Handžić, who together with Kasim Dobrača, pledged allegiance to Poglavnik Ante Pavelić in May 1941 on the behalf of El-Hidaje.[16]
However, this support was withdrawn on 28 August, when during an El-Hidaje assembly Handžić initiated the adoption of a
On 26 August 1942, a conference of around 300 Muslim notables presided by Reis-ul-Ulema[c] Salih Safvet Bašić was held in the offices of the Muslim charity Merhamet in Sarajevo. The conference was held in response to the massacres of Bosniaks by Chetniks in Foča. It criticized the failure of the Independent State of Croatia to protect Muslim civilians and set goals of organizing aid Muslims in eastern Bosnia and creating an armed force to defend Muslims. To achieve these goals, the Council of National Salvation[d] was founded during this conference with Handžić as its chairman.[18][19]
Handžić accused the
Elswehere in 1943, Muslims in Bosnia had begun joining the anti-Nazi Yugoslav Partisans; in turn, the Partisans began protecting Muslims from Chetniks.[24] By autumn, Muhamed Pandža decided to create a Muslim guerilla force that would fight alongside the Partisans; this decision was supported by Handžić and other Muslim notables.[24]
Political views
Handžić strongly opposed the
Handžić considered Islam to be a foundational element of Bosnian Muslims' cultural identity and he believed in the compatibility of Islam with nationalism. Handžić's work Patriotism, nationality and nationalism from the Islamic point of view,[e] published by El-Hidaje in 1941, created a basic contour of Bosniak nationalism.[14][26] He also introduced the concept of Bosniakhood, which applied only to Bosnian Muslim community.[27] Handžić also had pan-Islamic leanings.[28]
Death and legacy
Mehmed Handžić died during a routine medical operation in Koševo Hospital on 29 July 1944, at the young age of 37.[29] He never married and had no children.[1] It has been alleged that the death was a result of an assassination by the Partisans; historian Marko Attila Hoare describes the theory as "not impossible".[29]
Contemporary scholar Hazim Šabanovic described Handžić as one "of the greatest Islamic scholars Bosnia has had in last five centuries".[1] Handžić's bibliography amounted to 300 books and numerous articles, treatises, essays, brochures and textbooks both on Bosnian and Arabic.[1] Some of his textbooks are still the main literature for students at the Faculty of Islamic Studies at the University of Sarajevo.[1]
Notes
- ^ Bosnian: Uvod u tefsirsku nauku
- ^ Bosnian: Pokret za autonomiju Bosne i Hercegovine
- ^ The most senior religious figure of Muslim Bosnians
- ^ Bosnian: Odbor narodnog spasa
Marko Attila Hoare translates this as "Council of National Salvation" while Xavier Bougarel translates it as "People’s Salvation Committee".[18][19] - ^ Bosnian: Patriotizam, narodnost i nacionalizam sa islamskog gledišta
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Fazlic 2015, p. 433.
- ^ a b Karić 2016, p. 389.
- ^ a b Bougarel 2017, p. 49.
- ^ Busuladžić 1942, p. 175.
- ^ a b c d Bougarel 2017, p. 48.
- ^ a b c d e Fazlic 2015, p. 434.
- ^ Algar 1994, p. 266.
- ^ Karić 2016, p. 390.
- ^ Cetin 2010, p. 77.
- ^ Bougarel 2017, p. 22.
- ^ Mekić 2016, p. 6.
- ^ Mekić 2016, p. 75.
- ^ Bougarel 2008, pp. 11–12.
- ^ a b c Bougarel 2017, p. 50.
- ^ Bougarel 2017, p. 55.
- ^ Bougarel 2017, p. 56.
- ^ Cetin 2010, p. 78.
- ^ a b Bougarel 2017, p. 57.
- ^ a b Hoare 2013, pp. 51–52.
- ^ a b Motadel 2014, pp. 203–204.
- ^ Motadel 2014, p. 206.
- ^ Motadel 2013, p. 1030.
- ^ Mekić 2016, p. 51.
- ^ a b Hoare 2013, p. 150.
- ^ Bougarel 2008, pp. 15–16.
- ^ Bougarel 2017, p. 225.
- ^ Bougarel 2008, p. 21.
- ^ Motadel 2014, p. 202.
- ^ a b Hoare 2013, p. 247.
Books
- Bougarel, Xavier (2008). "Farewell to the Ottoman Legacy? Islamic Reformism and Revivalism in Inter-war Bosnia-Herzegovina". In Clayer, Nathalie; Germain, Eric (eds.). Islam in inter-war Europe. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231701006.
- Bougarel, Xavier (2017). Peter, Frank; GhaneaBassiri, Kambiz (eds.). Islam and Nationhood in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Surviving Empires. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350003590.
- Hoare, Marko Attila (2013). The Bosnian Muslims in the Second World War: A History. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199327850.
- Motadel, David (2014). Islam and Nazi Germany's War. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674724600.
- Mekić, Sejad (2016). A Muslim Reformist in Communist Yugoslavia: The Life and Thought of Husein Đozo. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781315525839.
Articles
- Karić, Enes (2016). "Mehmed Handžić − alim koji je širio povjerenje u tradiciju" [Mehmed Handžić - alim who spread confidence in tradition]. Godišnjak Bošnjačke zajednice kulture »Preporod« (in Bosnian) (1): 389–392 – via CEEOL.
- Cetin, Onder (2010). "1941 Resolutions of El-Hidaje in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a Case of Traditional Conflict Transformation". European Journal of Economic and Political Studies. 3 (2).
- Algar, Hamid (1994). "Persian literature in Bosnia-Herzegovina". Journal of Islamic Studies. 5 (2): 254–267. – via Oxford Academic.
- Busuladžić, Mustafa (1942). "Lo scrittore Hadži Mehmed Handžić di Sarajevo". Oriente Moderno (in Italian). 22 (4). Istituto per l'Oriente C. A. Nallino: 171–178. JSTOR 25811096– via JSTOR.
- Motadel, David (2013). "The 'Muslim Question' in Hitler's Balkans". The Historical Journal. 56 (4). Cambridge University Press: 1007–1039. S2CID 155659793– via JSTOR.
- Fazlic, Hazim (2015). "Modern Muslim Thought in the Balkans: The Writings of Mehmed ef. Handžić in the El-Hidaje Periodical in the Context of Discrimination and Genocide". Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. 35 (3): 428–449. S2CID 143308974– via Taylor and Francis.