Video duration 04 minutes 00 seconds
The Bosnians celebrate in late June of each year the “Ayaz Dada” cultural festival, which is associated with their conversion to Islam.
The town of Prosak in central Bosnia and Herzegovina hosted the activities of the 512th edition of the festival. The festival is one of the country’s longest festivals, as it lasts for days, and thousands of Bosnians commemorate the anniversary of their conversion to Islam through a person called “Aywaz Dada”, according to historical accounts.
People of all ages and from all parts of the country flock to the festival center in Prusak, in their traditional dress and with the participation of horsemen; Within the framework of the activities of the 512th edition of the festival, about 110 horsemen arrived on Saturday, June 25, 2022, in the “Prusak” area, where the festival is being held.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Ms. “Medina Konic” explained that she is participating in the celebrations for the fourth time with her favorite horse.
While 70-year-old Rasim Gradencik – who is participating with his wife – indicated that the festival has become a family tradition that they participate in annually.
On Sunday, the main program of the festival was held in Prusak, and the activities were followed by the participants performing the noon prayer in congregation.
According to historical accounts, Aywaz Dada, whose origins are from the Anatolian region of Turkey, arrived in the Bosnian “Prusak” 510 years ago, at a time when the region was experiencing water scarcity.
After praying and worshiping in the region for 40 days, Aywaz Dada found a river descending from a mountain, and was able to rid the population of drought and drought, which they considered dignity, and they embraced Islam, according to the popular legend.
legend and history
Apart from the legend of “Aywaz Dada”, it is historically established that a large number of Bosnians converted to Islam after the Ottoman conquest of the region in the second half of the 15th century, but the Islam of Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) was gradual, and it took up to two centuries to become the religion of the majority.
Christianity had relatively shallow roots in Bosnia prior to Ottoman domination, and the Bosniaks (unlike the Serb and Croat peoples) lacked a strong Christian church due to the lack of priests and the rivalry between the splinter Bosnian Orthodox, Catholic and Bosnian churches that collapsed shortly before the arrival of the Ottomans.
In his history of this great transformation, the famous British historian and orientalist Thomas Arnold (1864-1930) saw that the followers of the Bosnian Church were more receptive to converting to Islam; Since they were seen as heretics by the Catholic Church, and their religiosity was different from common Christian doctrines, they rejected the sanctification of the Virgin Mary and rejected the cross as a religious symbol and considered that bowing before icons and religious symbols bears a pagan character.
Although some European historians agree with Sir Arnold in his theory about religious conversion in Bosnia, others see it as an oversimplification, especially since Bosnians of all Christian denominations converted to Islam, including followers of the various Catholic and Orthodox churches, not only the Bosnian Church, to which many of the people did not belong. former residents as well.
Historians say that the beginning of the Ottoman era in Bosnia and Albania was associated with various religious conversions, including the conversion of many Catholics to Orthodoxy and vice versa.
slow turning
The gradual conversion to Islam proceeded at different rates among the different groups in the region. It was in the urban areas, which served as centers of Ottoman learning and administration, more than the countryside. Religious conversion was more common among the merchant class. By the 17th century, the majority of Bosnia’s population was Muslim.
Bosnia and Herzegovina remained a province in the Ottoman Empire and gained self-government after the Bosnian uprising in 1831, and after the Berlin Conference in 1878 to delineate the borders of the Balkan countries in the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish war between 1877 and 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina came under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which approved a constitution allowing freedom Religion.
After the Muslim population was expelled from many Balkan regions in the period of turmoil at the end of the 19th century, Bosnia, along with Albania and Kosovo, remained the only parts of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans; Where large numbers of people converted to Islam, and remained there after independence from the Ottomans.