Besim Korkut Efendi, A Bosnian ‛Ālim: His Life, Works and Contributions to the History of Islam
Authors: Grabus Merzuk 
Published: June 2022

Following the conversion to Islam, Bosnia and Herzegovina has produced many Muslim scholars and these scholars in return attracted multitudes of disciples and followers. These scholars and their disciples became a backbone of Bosnian scholarly climate. The Korkut family was one of these families which heavily influenced the scholarly environment in Bosnia. The last scholar in this family was Besim Korkut Efendi. Examination of scholars, their works and their scholarly environment in which this family and Besim Korkut himself is situated is extremely important if we want to see the Bosnian scientific world as a whole. With this in mind, we plan to present a short biography of Besim Korkut firstly. Besim Korkut Efendi was born on 25th of November 1904 in the city of Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Korkut family, to which he belonged, produced some notable figures which worked in the office of mufti or became instructors in the madrasah of Elçi İbrahim Paşa during the period of 100 years, between 1830-1930. For instance, his grandfather Muhammad Dervish Korkut Efendi and his uncle Muhammad Hazim Korkut Efendi are first to come to mind in this regard. Besim Korkut attended primary school in Travnik and was supported by his father Ahmad Munib Efendi during these first steps in education. However, due to his father’s official duties they left Travnik shortly. Afterwards he went on to finish Okruzna Madrasah in Sarajevo. In the period of 1920-1925 he continued his studies at the School of Sharia and Qadi Profession also in Sarajevo. This school was founded by Austrian-Hungarian government in 1887 for specialization of future qadis. During Besim Korkut’s stay in the School of Sharia and Qadi Profession, he attended the classes of some notable figures of Bosnian scholarly scene, such as Mehmed Tevfik Azapagich Efendi, Mehmed Jamaluddin Chaushevich Efendi and Sulayman Sarach Efendi. Afterwards he recieved his higher education at the University of al-Azhar and graduated in 1931. After the graduation he became a teacher in a number of Sarajevan high schools, as well as in the School of Sharia and Qadi Office. Also he taught in some schools in Mostar in the same period. Later he became a lecturer at the High School of Islamic Sharia and Theology in Sarajevo. After the formation of Higher Islamic Sharia and Theology School, he was appointed as a lecturer in the Islamic history department. Between 1950-1967 he also worked for Oriental Institute in Sarajevo. Working for this Institute, he worked on the translation from Arabic of Kalila and Dimna, One Thousand and One Nights and three copious daftars which were retrieved from State Archives in Dubrovnik. After his retirement on 01/03/1967, Besim Korkut continued to teach Arabic language at the Department of Eastern Languages of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo. Beside his numerous works and translations, Besim Korkut Efendi also wrote two books in the field of history of Islam, Kratak Pregled Povijesti Islama (A Brief History of Islam) and Istorija Islama (History of Islam). The fact that these books were written as early as 1930s adds to their importance. Especially his History of Islam was convient as a handbook for university students. He also wrote an important article about the School of Sharia and Qadi Profession, which he attended earlier in his career. Likewise, his article on the University of al-Azhar is worth mentionint in this context. His most famous work is his translation of the Holy Qoran into Bosnian, which is still recognized as official translation. This translation was published two years after Besim Korkut’s death. This was first rendering of the Holy Qoran in Bosnian in the history. There exist many other works of Besim Korkut. Besim Korkut Efendi died on the 2nd of November 1975 and was buried at the cemetary of Bare in Sarajevo. In this short biography, we plan to show the importance and contribution of the Korkut family in general, and Besim Korkut Efendi’s in particular, in the formation of Bosnian scholarly climate. With the example of Korkut family or other similar families and personalities, it is also intended here to show the importance of biographical stuides in the attempt to draw a clear picture of any scholarly environment.