Fatiha for Rahmetli Hafiz Halid Hadžimulić
Beloved Bosnian Sufi Teacher Has Died at 95

by Kamal Hasani
CIP
January 10, 2011

http://www.islamicpluralism.org/1694/fatiha-for-hafiz-halid-hadzimulic

The Centre for Islamic Pluralism joins the Muslims of Bosnia-Hercegovina in calling for recitations of Fatiha and readings of Ya Sin for the virtuous and beloved Sufi, the bright beacon of Islamic insight and dedication to truth, the heroic son of Sarajevo, rahmetli grandshaykh Hafiz Halid Hadžimulić, who has died at 95 years of age.

Rahmetli Hafiz Hadžimulić was the last representative in his country of the traditional school of commentary on the Mesnevi of Mevlana Jalalad'din Rumi. He was an outstanding preacher and teacher of Islamic respect for other faiths. He spent many years working for good relations between the ulema and the Sufis and to carry the enlightenment of Sufism to the mass of the Bosnian people. He wrote commentaries on Qur'an and Islamic tradition based on the spirit of classic Sufism as represented by Sa'adi, Hafiz, and Mevlana.

The son of Alija efendija Hadžimulić and Aiša hanuma Kulenović, rahmetli Halid was born on January 1, 1916 in Sarajevo. He completed his early course as a shariah judge in 1937, then studied at the Higher School of Shariah in Sarajevo – today's Faculty of Islamic Studies of the University of Sarajevo. He attended the Department of Foreign Languages, Philosophical Faculty, University of Zagreb, in Croatia in 1942.

From October 1, 1941 to June 23, 1943, he worked in the Sarajevo Municipal Archive, but after November 7, 1942, he also served as mujezin in the Sarač-Ismail mosque in Sarajevo, where his father was imam. The mosque is located in the Mejtaš district, a mixed mahala in the heart of the city.

During the second world war, rahmetli Hafiz Hadžimulić was accused by the Nazi-controlled Ustaša occupiers in Sarajevo of cooperation with the antifascist Partisan movement, and narrowly escaped death.

After the war he matriculated at the Department of Oriental Languages at the University of Sarajevo, from which he graduated in 1955. He was employed in the local vakuf office (administrator of awqaf) from 1947 to 1960 and in the Gazi Husrev-Beg library. He made important contributions to the cataloguing of oriental manuscripts in the library collection. He was imam at several of Sarajevo's most distinguished mosques, including the beautiful Careva (Imperial or Sultan's) mosque complex, where he remained until October 7, 1994.

The home of rahmetli Hafiz Hadžimulić was a place for instruction and study during more than 50 years. He lectured frequently on the Mesnevi, which he translated from Persian in its entirety. His teaching on Qur'an as well as his Sufi talks were famous and popular in Sarajevo.

Rahmetli Hafiz Hadžimulić was the heart of Islam in Sarajevo. His Sufi school preserved the principles of shariah and tariqat, love for the blessed family of the Prophet Muhammad, sallallahualeyhisalem, individual personality and spirituality.

CIP Executive Director Stephen Suleyman Schwartz adds:

I wrote briefly – too briefly – about rahmetli Hafiz Hadžimulić in my 2008 book The Other Islam, published in the Bosnian language as Jedan Drugačiji Islam in 2009. I give thanks to Allah almighty, for the mercy of seeing rahmetli Hafiz Hadžimulić in 2007. He was the model of a Bosnian, European, Muslim scholar and Sufi.

Related Topics:  Balkan Muslims, Bosnian Muslims, European Muslims, Shariah, Sufism receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free center for islamic pluralism mailing list