RAKIM ISLAMOVIĆ

Hadži hafiz Husein Rakim-efendi Islamović was born in Sarajevo in 1839 and is considered as one of the most significant Bosniak calligraphers of the second half of the 19th century. He attended and completed Gazi Husrev-bag madrasa in his home town. He began to take his first classes in calligraphy with the well-known Sarajevo calligrapher Abdulah Ajni-efendi Hasagić. He continued his education in Istanbul, where he also studied calligraphy. Rakim told his friends that soon after he came to Istanbul he had a dream which he understood as a sign that he should continue his calligrapher's road. Actually, the story has it that in his dream hafiz Rakim-efendi saw that the moon spilled down his right arm.

He spent his time in Istanbul with eight champions of calligraphy, who granted him for calligraphy diplomas in 1867, for nashk, thuluth and ta'liq scripts. As far as it is known, Rakim-efendi is the only Bosniak calligrapher who had four diplomas for calligraphy.

Upon his return to the homeland, hafiz Husein Rakim-efendi gathered several students around himself and thus founded his school of calligraphy. So far, we know of the names of five renowned people and intellectuals who learned calligraphy with Rakim-efendi: Behaudin-efendi Sikirić, Akif-efendi Hadžihusejinović-Muvekit, hafiz Sulejman-efendi Čučak, hadži hafiz Mustafa-efendi Čadordžija and hafiz Abdulah Ajni-efendi Bušatlić. A glance at his students' biographies reveals that Rakim efendi's students were prominent personalities of the time.

Eight levhas (framed calligraphic inscriptions) in Mišćina (Kebkebir hadži Ahmed) Mosque in Sarajevo are the oldest calligraphic compositions which have been preserved and which were created by Rakim-efendi Islamović. The levhas are written in thuluth script, in golden letters on the black background and contain the text usual for Bosnian mosques, i.e. the names of: Allah, dž.š., Muhammed, a.s., names of four faithful khalifs and the names of two grandsons of Muhammed, a.s. Below the name of Prophet's grandson Husen there is Islamović's signature and the year of the creation, i.e.: “Written by Rakim in 1290 Hijra year”. When the Hijra year is transformed into the Gregorian year, it turns out that it is 1873 A.D.

The largest calligraphic cycle of Rakim-efendi was held in Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque in Sarajevo and was composed of forty-eight levhas. All of them were written in the thuluth script except the one on the wall of the mahfil (balcony for the muezzin), which was written in ta'liq. This calligraphic cycle dates back to 1885, which is confirmed by two preparatory calligraphic drafts written by Islamović before the final work. These drafts used to be held in the archives of Waqf Administration for Bosnia and Herzegovina; unfortunately, their present location is unknown. Out of this monumental calligraphic project done by the hand of one of the greatest Bosniak calligraphers only two levhas have been preserved – the two at the entrance to the mosque.

Rakim-efendi Islamović together with the famous calligrapher Ali Faginović decorated the interior of Gazi Husrev-beg's tomb, which is situated next to his mosque, with levhas. Islamović made the central calligraphic cycle of eight levhas, while Faginović is the author of the others.

Rakim-efendi Islamović wrote the only presently calligraphic work for an epitaph, tarih (chronogram), for Mustafa-beg Dženetić in 1874. This nišan (Muslim tombstone) used to be situated in the courtyard of Hadži Kemaludin (Ćemaluša) Mosque in the Ferhadija Street; however, after the mosque was demolished it was transported to the courtyard of Ali-pasha Mosque in Sarajevo, where it still stands  .

Hadži hafiz Husein Rakim-efendi Islamović left his homeland and moved to İnegöl (present Turkey), where a large group of Bosniak immigrants lived. He died in Makkah on 11 June 1894, during the hajj.