Forms of addressing the reisu-l-ulama in use

Abstract

UDK: 28-732.3(497.6)

Analysis of a corpus of official correspondence, the texts of publications of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bosniak journals shows the variety of the forms of addressing the reisu-l-ulama. During the period of over 140 years of the existence of the institution of reisu-l-ulama the lack of a stable, permanent form of addressing the head of the highest representative and the religious authority of the Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It says a lot about the language culture, the capacity to produce from within one’s spiritual tradition, a terminology of adequate meaning, and also of an aptitude for building lexis and naming personnel of offices or administrative, organisational or spiritual structure. This article presents some examples of the forms of addressing reisu-l-ulama in different historical periods. These alone may represent a reflection of the perception, in general, of the office itself, on one hand, and on the other, they stand as a witness of discontinuity and the lack of understanding of the significance of the spiritual bases upon which any further stable, lexical or linguistic representation may be constructed.  These examples also indicate the influence of the surroundings as well as, to some extent, the search for an adequate institutionalised form of discourse and forms of address.