Muhammed Seid Serdarević as a muderris of Sultan Ahmed’s medresah in Zenica

Abstract

Muhammed Seid Serdarević belongs to the respected Serdarević family of Zenica, the family that gave the medresah in Zenica some distinguished alims, Muhammed Seid Serdarevic being one of them. He went to school in Sarajevo, and graduated from Gazi-Husrevbey’s hanihak and Daru-l-mu’allimin where he stood out for above-average intelligence. Thanks to that fact for some time he was muderris’ assistant on shariah-law subject Multeku-l-ebhur. Recognizing the exceptional effort and complexity of studying theological disciplines in Arabic, Turkish and Persian language, together with Mehmed Dzemaluddin Causevic, he embarks upon translating and transcribing some of the literature books into Bosnian language. Those translations made studying easier and shortened enormously long schooling period in medresahs. He wrote many literature books during the period between 1905 and 1917, and among them there is one that stands apart i.e. shariah-law literature book Fiqhu-l-ibadat in Bosnian language written in Bosancica script, which at the time, considering still firm conservative orientation of some of the Bosniak ulema, was a categorical and brave gesture. This very book will be, for a few decades, a major fiqh literature book in the most of Bosnian medresahs. Muhammed Seid Serdarevic was an active contributor to almost all Islamic papers and magazines at the time. His didactical-pedagogical works in a magazine Muallim, published at the beginning of the 20th century, were exceptionally well-received. He was its editor-in-chief and contributor since the establishing of the magazine. After his father’s death he was appointed muderris of the Zenica medresah, a duty he would exercise till the end of his life in 1918. Serdarevic taught the key theological subjects where he had an opportunity to successfully apply his methodological-pedagogical knowledge, although he exercised that duty for only five years which is a relatively short period of time. Medresah would later on (1927), thanks to, among other things, his intellectual engagement, become a coeducational school which was a unique example in this region and even wider. A short but peculiar life of Muhammed Seid Serdarevic testifies that he was an alim whose work has important historical dimensions.