Sufi Orders in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Islam in Bosnia arrived with the Ottoman conquest by Sultan Mehmed Fatih in the fifteenth century. Over the next century, Sufi orders (tarīqah) helped to spread the religion. Among these, the most influential were the Naqshabandi and the Halveti; others included the Bektashi, Qāadiri, Mawlawi, Tabani and Rifā῾īyahRifa’i orders. One of the first Sufis who came to Bosnia during the mid-fourteenth century was Sari Saltuk, a member of Bektashi tarīqah whose grave was located near the Buna tekke (Sufi residence, hospice, or lodge) in Blagaj (established in 1466).

Keywords: Islam, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sufi, Sufism