BIHAĆ - A CITY OF MADRASAS

At one time, there were three madrasas in Bihać. According to statistical data for years 1876 and 1877, there were two madrasas in the kaza of Bihać: the Mehmed-pasha Bišćević madrasa and the one across the Fethija Mosque in Bihać. Mehmed-pasha Madrasa was a one-story building with 13 rooms for softas (madrasa pupils), the classroom (dershana), two ablution rooms (abdesthanas), the front yard and the garden. Based on the endowment charter (vakufnama) from 1868, an amount of 60,000 groschen was allocated for its costs; the money was to be put in circulation with 10% profit, acting in the permissible (halal) way. It was built at Otoka (isle), which was the center of Bihać marketplace, the liveliest part of the town at the time. It has been recorded that, in 1893, there were 22 houses, 43 warehouses, seven shops, two mills and several wooden shops on the bridges leading to Otoka on this isle. These warehouses and shops were mostly privately owned.  

The madrasa across the Fethija Mosque in Bihać was built at the initiative of Bihać kaymakam Reuf-bey in 1866. In the same year, the Assembly of the Eyalet in Sarajevo made the decision that a new building of madrasa should be built on this site. Salih Sidki Muvekkit writes about this event and says that it was built in the month of Muharram of the same year. The madrasa across Fethija Mosque had ten rooms for lodging and a large classroom.

        In 1892 another, the third madrasa was built, which would be one of the most beautiful buildings in Bihać and wider surroundings for a long time. At the time, Bihać was the torchbearer of knowledge in whole Bosanska Krajina Building of the new Bihać madrasa was initiated by. Mehmed-beg Ibrahimpašić- Alajbegović, then mayor of Bihać. The provincial government supported this activity and invested 5,000 forintas in the construction.

Citizens actively participated in the building of their madrasa earmarking 16% of annual “surtax” over two years, pursuant to the decision of the Construction Board. Building of the madrasa began in 1889 but it had to be paused in 1891 already since the collected funds were not sufficient for completing the work.

Works on building the madrasa ended in 1892, i.e. in 1310 Hijri year. Late that year, the opening ceremony was organized. The madrasa was built on the site of former Ićhisar Mosque, which had been in a dilapidated state. It was built in the post-Moorish style, after the model of Sharia Court School in Sarajevo. In the Second World War it was continuously a target of different armies which alternated in the city of Bihać. In the early June 1941 already, Italian army broke into the madrasa building and destroyed teachers’ records, 225 books in Oriental and vernacular languages, 465 books in our language, maps, two globes and other teaching aids. According to estimates of the madrasa management based on the value of the items in 1939, the damage amounted to 177,500 dinars. At the time, any damage referred to the value of items in 1939, pursuant to a document sent by the Reparation Committee within the Government of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia. Classes were interrupted several times, and pupils were therefore moved to a farm at Kalina – Bakšaiš since the madrasa building was bombed several times during the war.

It was particularly severely damaged in a bombing in 1944, when it was almost destroyed to the ground apart from the southeast part. The remaining parts of the building were razed by the army, who used the material for their needs. From a letter sent by the principal of the madrasa to the Commission in Bihać, we can see that these activities could not be prevented.

There were attempts to continue the work of the madrasa after the war, in the building of “Gajret’sˮ convent; even a Steering Committee was formed and the money was raised for adaptation. However, this educational institution never resumed work. The Steering Committee was chaired by Omer-beg Bišćević, who was also the chairman of the Commission in Bihać. The recorded date of the last activity of the Committee is 25 April 1948, when the funds were handed to the treasurer. Thereafter, the building housed the Vocational Boarding School.

In general, after the Second World War the work of madrasas was regulated by the Ordinance on Abolishing Privately-owned Schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Article 7. of the ordinance provides that it does not pertain to privately-owned schools with religious curriculum which has been approved by the minister of education. Pursuant to this regulation, the Ulama -majlis in Sarajevo submitted, to the Ministry of Education, Department of Secondary Schools, regulations pertaining to Gazi Husrev-beg Madrasa, district madrasas and maktabs. The same letter noted that German had been excluded from the curriculum of madrasas. Ulama-majlis did not receive a reply to their request and sent several reminders, however without a result. It is well-known that only Gazi Husrev-beg Madrasa continued its work while all the others were closed.     

        The devastated building of Bihać madrasa was razed to the ground, and the land where it had stood, land-registry entry number 488, lot number 1/89, an area of 580 m² was nationalized in 1959, less than a year after the Law on Nationalization came into force. The building of the National Bank, Bihać branch was built on this lot. Shortly before the beginning of works the waqf requested compensation for the land in the amount of 406,000 dinars. The National Bank declined the request on the grounds that current regulations do not allow purchase of this lot. The paid compensation for the seized waqf land amounted to 242,400 dinars.   

        On the site of former Bihać madrasa a building in Russian style was constructed, same as most buildings constructed after the Second World War in Bihać. Until the aggression on our country the building housed the Institute for Payment Transactions, former Social Accounting Office. At present it is used for the needs of the District Attorney’s Office of the Una-Sana Canton. It is obvious that the “new” socialist government strove to erase traces of Islamic architecture and, unfortunately, managed to do so. Out of past buildings of the kind in Bihać: madrasas, Pasha Mosque, warehouses and shops at Otoka which used to adorn this town, only a mausoleum for two unknown shahids (martyrs) has remained. Thus, everything has been grossly destroyed, and the postcard of Bihać has been completely changed.

 References:

• Knjiga Sidžila I, number 162, translated by Salih Trako, Gazi Husrev-beg Library, Sarajevo.

• Mehmed Mašić (1998), “Bihaćke medreseˮ, NIP Unsko-sanske novine, Bihać.

• Private archives of Sadik-ef. Ribić.

• Unorganized archival materials of the Archives of the Una-Sana Canton