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- Title
DJEVA MERJEMA U BOSANSKIM MIHRABIMA.
- Authors
Mahmutćehajić, Rusmir
- Abstract
This paper sets out the findings of a study of the Virgin Mary in the mihrabs of Bosnia as the central symbol of the entity of the mosque. This presence is made explicit in the calligraphic inscriptions of the elliptical sentence "Whenever Zachariah went in to her in the sanctuary. . ," but the cosmological and spiritual meanings of this presence are far wider-reaching. It is impossible to demonstrate or elucidate them other than from the perspective of the perennial philosophy and the testimony to the Praised One (Muhammad) as the androgenic principle of creation or manifestation. The many instances of this calligraphic inscription being destroyed in modern times are evidence that it is indeed impossible to understand the presence of the Virgin Mary in the mihrabs of Bosnia except through the lens of the perennial philosophy. The study sets out the scholarly and ritual framework of the meaning of the mosque as the crystallization of the perennial teachings on the cosmos and the soul, and of the mihrab as their closest sublimation in regard to man. Examples of nineteen Bosnian mihrabs are also given, so indicating the possibility of a fuller interpretation of the religious heritage, the disappearance of which cannot be understood independently of the evaporation of the intellectual tradition with which it is associated.
- Subjects
BOSNIA &; Herzegovina; MARY, Blessed Virgin, Saint; MIHRABS; MUHAMMAD, Prophet, d. 632; CALLIGRAPHY; ISLAM; PHILOSOPHY
- Publication
Heritage (Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia & Herzegovina), 2009, Vol 5, p363
- ISSN
1840-2364
- Publication type
Article