TRADITION OF MEMORISING THE TEXT OF THE QUR’AN IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA FROM 1878 TILL THE PRESENT DAY

Abstract

UDK 28-23
28-31(497.6)

Since the arrival of Islam to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the fifteenth century, people of this country have, like in many other countries throughout the Islamic world, expressed their loyalty and devotion to the Islamic faith through learning the text of the Qur’an by heart and through the practicing its teachings in their everyday life. History and the oral tradition bear witness to a number of notable figures amongst the Bosnian u’lama, huffaz who left on Islamic heritage significant trail of our country. Islam and the love for the Qur’an have always played a special role in lives of Bosniaks. Even under the pressure of the ruling atheist regime of the former state there have always been a number of Bosniaks who memorised the Qur’an and who sought to spread the love of Islam and the Qur’an amongst their fellow countrymen. In the past three decades this trend has been strengthened resulting in fast growing number of people memorising the Qur’an and a significant rise in the progress thereof. Today in Bosnia and Herzegovina we have few hundreds of huffaz and that number is growing every day.