THE LIBRARY OF MESUD EF. SMAILBEGOVIĆ

Abstract

The author attempted to present the basic biographical data on the last Muftija of city of Tešanj, Mesud ef. Smailbegović (1834-1904). Despite poor material available on his biography, the author succeeded in presenting us with some of the facts on the life of Mesud ef. Smailbegović. Muftija Mesud ef. Smailbegović was considered a great spiritual person of the city of Tešanj by the end of the 191h century. He was a teacher, a worthy representative of the ullemma of his time. Mesud ef. Smailbegović was also an exemplary vakif (benefactor) of his town and an extremely educated intellectual and alim. He was also a muderris (professor) of the Gazi Ferhatbey's medressah in Tešanj. One of his students was a famous Bosniac poet, Musa Ćazim Ćatić, who wrote, a famous poem titled On the Grave of my Teacher, in honor of his dead teacher. However, Muftija Mesud ef. Smailbegović was better known for his private library, consisting of the books in Arabic, Turkish, Persian, French and Bosnian language and of a number of manuscripts. This library is housed today in the General Library of the city of Tešanj. The middle section of this text in fact focuses on this library. The catalog of his library has not been made to date. In fact, no one was even aware of the expanse of the written treasure conserved in this library. We are therefore honored that we bave an opportunity to reveal this treasure, hidden for almost a century. This work includes the catalog or the review of the books of the library of the last Muftija of city of Tešanj, Mesud ef. Smailbegović, which in fact represents our basic task. The catalog contains 285 bibliographical units.