Baba-Besir’s mosque is located in Balinovac, on the far west of Mostar. This mosque was constructed in the second half of the 16th century, before 1585, and it is one of the oldest mosques in Mostar today.
During the war, or more precisely in 1993, many Bosniak houses in the “western” part were burned and destroyed as well as all four mosques that were located in that part of Mostar. This mosque was reconstructed back in September 2003.
In recent years, this congregation was made of mostly older citizens, since the war and weak economic situation did what they did, and a large number of young people went abroad. However, things are slowly returning to its path. There are more and more believers who are between 25 and 30 years old.
“We had a certain vacuum in our congregation, we did not have younger members, and now that vacuum was filled with a new generation of members who were born before the war, during the war and immediately after the war. This made us very happy because we had a period with increasing number of deaths and a very small number of marriages and newborn children,” said Imam in this congregation.
Besides the joint iftar dinner, this congregation organizes a special program every Ramadan as well. Lecturers from different spheres of life are giving lectures and compare them with Islam.
Imam Jakirovic says that even somun (flat bread) has a specific taste during Ramadan compared to other months because God gave a special taste to it.
“Our Prophet a.s. said that Ramadan is the month of his Ummah (people). Therefore, everything is different in this blessed month,” said Imam Jakirovic.
(Source: faktor.ba)
