Ismet Muftić (born 1876, Žepče – died 1945, Zagreb) was a Bosnian imam and the first Islamic Mufti of Croatia.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Ismet_Mufti%C4%87.jpg/220px-Ismet_Mufti%C4%87.jpg)
He became mufti of the Croatian capital Zagreb in 1917 after the Islamic community was reformed there. His main task was to attempt to build a permanent mosque in the city. Due to lack of funds, the community was not able to achieve this on its own. Plans to build a mosque at Zelengaj in the 1930s did not succeed, however.[1] In March 1939 Muftić was one of the founders and vice president of Društvo bosansko-hercegovačkih Hrvata u Zagrebu (Society of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Croats in Zagreb).[2]
However, after the Independent State of Croatia was formed, the ruling Ustaša party sought to better accommodate the Croatian Muslims. Muftić and the Muslim community put forth a proposition to turn the Orthodox church on Preradović Square into a mosque. In the end, it was decided that the Meštrović Pavilion would take that role. To that effect, three minarets were added to the building.[3]
In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, Muftić was hanged by the Yugoslav Partisans. In 1949 the Pavilion's minarets were taken down, and the building returned to its old usage.[3]
References
edit- ^ "POVIJEST MEDŽLISA ISLAMSKE ZAJEDNICE ZAGREB". Archived from the original on 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
- ^ Zlatko Hasanbegović, Muslimani u Zagrebu 1878.-1945. Doba utemeljenja, Medžlis Islamske zajednice u Zagrebu-Institut društvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar, Zagreb, 2007, pp. 175:
"Muftić je u ožujku 1939., s većim brojem zagrebačkih muslimana, sudjelovao u osnutku Društva bosansko-hercegovačkih Hrvata u Zagrebu čiji je predsjednik bio povjesničar Ćiro Truhelka. Izabran je i za potpredsjednika društva koje je u javnosti zastupalo je koncept hrvatske nacionalne pripadnosti Bosne i Hercegovine, i to u vrijeme pregovora oko određivanja konačnih granica Banovine Hrvatske."
- ^ a b "Povijest zgrade". hdlu.hr. 27 August 2008. Retrieved 29 February 2016.