Several Documents on Isa Bey’s Tekke in Sarajevo (III)

Abstract

The zaviya (dervish lodge) of Isa Bey Ishaković in Sarajevo has often been identified in historiography and collective memory with the Mevlevi order, although no evidence of such an affiliation exists in the waqfiyya or in early documents. The connection between the zaviya and the Mevlevi order appears only in the last quarter of the 18th century, when Osman Dede was appointed shaykh of the Mevlevi tekke of Hadži Mahmud, located in the immediate vicinity of Isa Bey’s zaviya. At that time, Osman Dede equated the two institu­tions, presenting himself as the shaykh of Isa Bey’s zaviya and assuming the administration of its waqf, which led to a prolonged legal dispute with the then mutawalli, a descendant of Isa Bey. Court documents determined that Isa Bey’s zaviya did not belong to the Mevlevi order and that Osman Dede lost the ad­ministration of the waqf. A number of documents on this subject are preserved in the archives, some of which have been published in two previous studies. Lutfullah Efendi, who succeeded Osman Dede as shaykh of the Mevlevi tekke, continued his father’s claims regarding Gazi Isa Bey’s zaviya. This gave rise to a new dispute over the management of the waqf between the sons of the previ­ous litigants. This paper focuses on the documents of that dispute preserved in the sijill (court register) of the Sarajevo Sharia Court, among the documents of the Gazi Husrev–beg Library in Sarajevo. These documents indicate that Lutfullah Efendi achieved no better outcome than his father and was unable to take over the administration of Isa Bey’s zaviya. They also highlight that Isa Bey’s zaviya and the Mevlevi tekke in Sarajevo were two distinct institutions and that it was not Gazi Isa Bey’s zaviya that was Mevlevi, but rather the tekke of Hadži Mahmud.