HALIL'-EFFENDI

Halil-ef. Hali was the imam of the Old Wooden Mosque in Bužim for almost half a century (1832–1878). He is one of the most significant spiritual figures of the Bužim region. Folk stories say that he was a good person, that he had features of a kader-sahibija, that he interpreted dreams, that he was a clairvoyant and thus predicted the future.

A story that is related to him says that he took off his turban and stopped the service when Austro-Hungarians occupied Bužim. Actually, one day while he was going home from the mosque, wearing his turban, he had to step away from a group of Austro-Hungarian horsemen who were going toward the fortress. Visibly shaken and insulted, he took the turban off and told them that he could no longer be a leader, since he could not bear that he had to step away from the enemy in his own religion and in his own country. He was buried in the graveyard of the Old Wooden Mosque.