KUŠLAT
A MOSQUE ON THE ROCK
Author: Šefko Sulejmanović, PhD, Institute for Social and Religious Studies in Tuzla • Photo & video: Mirza Hasanefendić, Archive
About twenty kilometers south of Zvornik, above the mouth of rivers Jadra and Drinjača, one can still see ruined remains of the medieval town of Kušlat and a renewed mosque with the wooden minaret. The fortified town of Kušlat (Kučlat) is situated on a high cliff to the right of the mouth of the Jadar into the Drinjača. It is hard to tell when the town was built, but it certainly had an extreme strategic importance in the Roman times. Podkušlat, i.e. its suburb, was a developed and very busy medieval market. The town of Kušlat is mentioned in 1345, and the merchant settlement below Kušlat in 1369, under the name Trg Kušlat (Podkučlat). Podkušlat was a significant place for Dubrovnik merchants, since it was situated by an important road communication between Srebrenica, rich in ores, and Zvornik, a dynamic road junction.
Ottomans established their rule in East Bosnia before 1463, since as early as in 1441 they had Srebrenica under their control. It is certain that Kušlat could not have been conquered by Ottomans before 1459, i.e. before the fall of the Serbian Despotate. At present, the national road Sarajevo – Zvornik passes about a hundred meters below the fortified town and the mosque with the wooden minaret.
According to findings by some historians, it was on Kušlat that the first military mosque with wooden minaret in Bosnia was built. The town and the mosque were built at a spot which was completely safe from external conquest. Evlija Čelebi says: “The towering rock on which the town was built is somewhat inclined toward southeast, and the rock itself is pointed as an egg. The town has no moats, and it is enclosed with a hellish abyss. In the town, there is a small Ebul Feth mosque, and houses: steward's, imam's, muezzin's and doorkeeper's...” Since Evlija Čelebi refers to the mosque as Ebul Feth, one can with certainty conclude that it was built in the 15th century, during the rule of sultan Mehmed II el-Fatih (1451–1481). A dynamic process of adopting Islam by local population in these regions probably correlated with the early building of the mosque on Kušlat and missionary activity of imams and/or other members of the crew of the fortified town. The mosque on Kušlat is also mentioned by the famous French diplomat Michel Kikle, who passed through this region in 1657.
Since the mosque is still in the immediate vicinity of a very important road, it has often been visited by researchers of various professions and with various interests. Thus, Mehmed Mujezinovć recorded that the remains of the old town on Kušlat include a mosque (...) with a very steep (wooden) roof and a small wooden minaret rising from the roof of the mosque. Madžida Bećirbegović writes as follows: “On the small mosque in the fortress of Kušlat (6,8 x 6,5) a 3.1 m deep mahif (balcony) covers almost a half of the building's length, thus enlarging the space where its crew could pray. (...) Rectangular openings have wooden frames. A high roof dominates over the volume and structure of wooden covering, and the wooden minaret is higher than it only by the height of the gallery, which has small semicircular openings. Except for the minaret, the shape of the mosque does not differ from a residential house.” With respect to aesthetics and architecture, the mosque fully corresponded to the ambience of the old town, which is not surprising because Ottoman urban development fully respected coexistence with natural and social environment (M. Čamo).
As a sultan mosque, a mosque built with the funds of the state for needs of Ottoman army, the mosque on Kušlat did not have its waqf. Its maintenance was funded from the state treasury. When military crews left the town in 1883, care for the mosque was taken over by local Muslim population of Pahljevići, Drinjača, Konjević-Polje and other surrounding villages. Symbolically, like other mosques in our region the building of which is related to the days of Feth, (sultan Mehmed el-Fatih), this mosque also had a prominent religious value. When mosques in Drinjača and Konjević-Polje were built, the mosque lost its primacy and was opened only occasionally, for Jummah (Friday prayer), Eid prayer and similar needs. Nevertheless, the imam service in this mosque, as far as it is known, was never interrupted until April 1992, when army and police of Republika Srpska and Yugoslav People's Army began military aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina and the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The mosque on Kušlat has always had a particular spiritual value for people. In olden times, prayers for rain were always performed by the mosque. As a matter of fact, during drought years, the muallim (religious teacher) would take children from maktab in front of the mosque, accompanied by believers from this and neighboring jamaats, where the prayer for rain was performed. The mosque was also visited by many needy people who believed that here, in this blessed spot they would find a cure for their disease or diseases of their loved ones, and who would slaughter qurbans and leave gifts in money and things. Some authors claim that the mosque on Kušlat was a spot where ulama from various parts of the Ottoman Empire gathered, and where various theological topics were discussed (H. Suljkić). This long practice left a deep trace on the population of surrounding villages, who were characterized by a developed culture and need for religious education and its consistent application.
Villagers of Pahljevići testify that, during the aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995), military and police forces of Republika Srpska set fire to the mosque on 14 March 1993, after the aggressive armed occupation of this area. The mosque was renewed after Bosniaks' return to surrounding places and administrative preparations conducted by the Islamic Community in 2009. The mosque was re-built at the same place, in its original form and with authentic construction materials. The opening ceremony was held on 1 September 2012. On the last Friday in August, Jummah prayer is traditionally performed in the mosque on Kušlat, in the presence of a large number of believers.
References:
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