GIRL MOSQUES IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Today, Muslims throughout the world are familiar with the existence of woman mosque which are founded and managed by women, where women receive education or perform joint religious activities. Such mosques have existed in Bosnia and Herzegovina for centuries. Since recently, mosques labeled as female have increasingly been opening in western countries. However, unlike these mosques, Bosnia and Herzegovina has also been nourishing a unique phenomenon which is not known in other Muslim countries and which is related to mosques labeled as female. Among public at large this phenomenon is known as ‘girl mosques’.

The name of these mosques is very rarely related to religious activities of women and, generally, to their presence in the mosque. It is primarily related to the building or renewing the mosque. According to folk stories, names of girl mosques typically originated from legends about girls who endowed their dowry (assets which girls prepared for their marriage) for building or renewing mosques.

The city of Tuzla is well-known by such a mosque. The Mehmedaga or Mosque in Tuzla, which was commissioned by Mehmed-aga, commander of military crew of the fort of Tuzla, is also known by names Kizler Mosque, Girl Mosque and the Hafiz-hanuma Mosque. It is believed that the mosque changed its name according to benefactors who renewed it. According to folk belief, the mosque was named Girl Mosque since, at a certain time period, a girl had it renewed with her dowry, and its tomb was located in the courtyard of the mosque in 1848. After a certain time, the mosque fell into ruins and in 1890, according to stories by inhabitants of Tuzla, its complete renewal was commissioned by Hafiz-hanuma Tuzlić, after whom the mosque was named the Hafiz-hanuma Mosque.

According to some data, the oldest mosque in Konjic is also called the Girl Mosque. This mosque used to be situated on the right bank of the Neretva, about hundred meters downstream the Bridge of Konjic. Alija Nametak writes that this mosque dates back to 1855, while Hivzija Hasandedić claims that the mosque was the waqf of Mustafa, son of Alija, from 1565. Besides disagreements about the year of building, many authors disagreed about the waqif (the person who endowed funds) of the mosque. Thus, Refik Hadžimehanović claims that the mosque was commissioned by court clerks during Turkish rule and that there is a belief that girls had it built with their money. In a similar vein, Hivzija Hasandedić also writes that the mosque was commissioned by Turkish clerks who worked in Konjic during Ottoman administration, or that its construction or renewal was commissioned by a girl from Repovci, and that it is why it was named the Girl Mosque. Due to non-existence of its waqf which would fund it, the mosque fell into ruins and began to be used as a forge, to be razed in 1946. It is believed a building has been erected at its site.

The Atik Mosque in Fojnica was built in 1551, and was commissioned by inhabitant of Fojnica Mustafa Hadr. It is one of the oldest building sin this part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The mosque is also popularly called the Girl Mosque, and according to natives, it was so named in 1820, when it was renewed. Older generations of citizens of Fojnica say that there were three girls, three sisters, in the neighborhood, very rich and beautiful, who had collected their dowries for years. Time went by, and since they did not marry, they endowed their wealth for renewal of the mosque. Because of the name, the tradition of women mukabela (group reading of the Qur'an) after the noon prayer began from 1994. In previous years, the noon prayer during the Ramadan and before the mukabela was performed only by women headed by muallim who led the mukabela. In recent years, however, the prayer which is still performed only by women is led by the imam of the mosque. Besides mukabela, tradition of giving lectures only for women on Sundays has also been established.

The village of Podvinci, about fifteen kilometers from Visoko, can boast the oldest mosque in the area of the Majlis of the Islamic Community Gračanica (Visoko). The old mosque or, as it is also called the Girl Mosque, was built in 1702. According to folk stories, a girl from this village found out that her boyfriend went to a mosque in another village to perform the Friday prayer. Since the girl did not like it, she decided to sell her dowry and her other valuable assets and endow the money for building a mosque in her neighborhood. The mosque which was built with her assets was therefore named the Girl Mosque. Reconstruction of this mosque is still in progress.

Besides the described mosques, at Gornja mahala in Čajniče there is also the Mir Muhamed, Muhamed Mustaj-bey or the Girl Mosque, built between the 16th and the 17th century. According to a folk legend, this mosque was commissioned by a girl who sold her dowry when her boyfriend did not return from the army. With the money which she received for her dowry she commissioned this mosque, which was therefore named the Girl Mosque. 

According to oral stories, the Gornjomahalska Mosque in Žepče which was first recorded in 1816, is also known as the Girl Mosque among people. The stories say that it was so named because of the fact that at a certain period religious rituals and other activities in this mosque were performed exclusively by women. This name is not mentioned in 1882, when travel writer Nikola Tordinac, based on folk stories, recorded that the mosque was commissioned by Mula Husein Bajrić, and it is therefore assumed that the mosque was given this name later.

From the above described it can be observed that the existence of girl mosques in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a particular traditional phenomenon, which is not related to performing religious activities by women in these mosques, but rather to endowing assets for the needs of building or renewing mosques. The mosques have been named 'girl' rather than 'women' since, as folk stories say, their building or renewal was commissioned by girls who endowed their dowry for this purpose after they had not get married, for different reasons. The exception is the Gornjomahalska Mosque in Žepče, since it is claimed that it was so named due to the fact that at a time religious rituals and other activities in this mosque were performed only by women.

References:

• A. Agić, “Obnovljena Gornjomahalska džamijaˮ, Preporod, no. 14-15, 15. July 2004, p. 24.

• Mehmedović, Ahmed (2017), Upravljanje vakufima u Bosni i Hercegovini 1847-2017. Vakufska direkcija, Sarajevo.

• Nametak, Alija, “Islamski kulturni spomenici u Hercegovini i Crnoj Gori: putopisne bilješkeˮ, Narodna Uzadnica, 1940, pp. 112-130.

• Hodžić, Dževad (ur.), Islamska zajednica u Bosni i Hercegovini: monografija. Udruženje Ilmijje, Sarajevo, 2013.

• Hasandedić, Hivzija, “Hercegovački vakufi i vakifiˮ, Anali GHB, volume IX-X, 69.

• Mujezinović, Mehmed (1998), Islamska epigrafika u Bosni i Hercegovini, part two, Sarajevo publishing, Sarajevo, 271-272.

• Hadžimehanović, Refik, “Kratak pregled Konjicaˮ, Islamski glas, 6 December 1935, no. 10, p. 4.

• Smajlović, Salih, “Kako teku ramazanski dani u Fojnici: ramazan nadvladao novu godinuˮ, Preporod, no. 2/628, 15 January 1998, p. 13.

• Buljugić, Suad and Buljugić, Nihad (2010), Tuzla- sjećanje na bisere stare gradske jezgre. Geografsko društvo TK.

• Maglajlić, Munib, “Žepče u usmenoj predaji Bošnjaka u prošlom stoljećuˮ, Muallim, no. 29-30, 1995, pp. 18-19.

• Personal archives. Conversations with members of jamaats and imams of the described mosques.