Bosnian Hajj Literature

Abstract

Explores changing attitudes to the holy through a study of five centuries of Bosnian Hajj literature Discusses Hajj literature from Bosnia written between the 16th and 21st centuries in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish and Bosnian Engages with a variety of classical and modern genres including narrative accounts, travelogues, journalistic reportages, diaries, letters and postcards, religious treatises, essays, poems and plays Stands at the intersection of Islamic studies, religious studies and broader area studies Recentres the study of Islam on practices and writings, and on the Balkan experiences, which are often seen as 'peripheral' within the Muslim world This is the first critical and theoretically grounded book-length study of Hajj literature (written texts about the experience of the Hajj) and Hajj practices of Bosnian Muslims. It redefines the ways pilgrimage can be understood and offers new methods for investigating the meaning and importance of Hajj for generations of premodern and modern believers. It also throws light on Balkan communities previously ignored by modern scholarship in Islamic, religious, and area studies. Breaking with the predominant academic trends of focusing on nationalism and ethnic conflict in the region, it instead puts the spotlight on the richness of texts, and visual and archival material, and focuses on genres that challenge the established literary canons.