Muderis Muhamed Seid-ef. Serdarević (1882-1918)

A paradigm of an intellectual in the era of great challenges for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bosniaks

Abstract

UDK: 28:929 Serdarević M.S.

A key element for the survival of any nation, for preserving its culture, faith, and identity, regardless of whether the territory where that nation lives is organized as an independent state or as an administrative unit within some state or a part of some empire, as Bosnia was in the period from the year 1463 to 1918, lies in the capacity of that nation, in this particular case Bosniaks, to survive any challenge brought about the by the transition of the rule from one political system to another. These are, at the same time, the most subtle and most crucial moments for the preservation of the spirit of a nation, and for the continuity of their national awareness. Such was the case for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period from the year 1463 to November the 3^rd 1918 when the National government for Bosnia and Herzegovina was formed within the state of Slovenians, Croats, and Serbs. It was in this period of transition that an intellectual, Bosniak reformer and Muslim scholar Muhamed Seid-ef. Serdarević was born in Zenica. This article presents the socio-economic, political, and cultural challenges that Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosniaks were facing at that time and it gives the outlines of a relentless endeavor of this scholar in countering these challenges, and in finding adequate answers to problems and deviations.