Gazi Husrev Bey School, one of the most important Ottoman monuments in the Bosnian capital (Sarajevo), witnessed the graduation of the 472nd class of its students.

Mansour Malikic, director of the school, which is one of the oldest Islamic educational institutions in Europe, said that the current batch includes 49 male and 68 female students, including 9 memorizers of the Holy Quran.

The student, Fatima Hussein Bahic, who graduated from the school with a high rate, expressed her pride in learning at the prestigious school, which "provides a very good basis for any education in the future," as she put it.

Gazi Husrev Bey School students celebrate their graduation next to the historical complex that includes a mosque, a school and a library (Anatolia)

Historic school and university

The madrasa and the mosque were built in 1530 when Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of the Ottoman Empire. They were built by the Tabrizi architect Ajam Ali by order of the Ottoman governor of Bosnia, the invader Khusraw Beg.

Although it was not the first mosque built in the city after the Ottomans conquered it, it is the most important in it, in addition to its great contribution to the urbanization of Sarajevo, which was then a small district.

Ghazi Khosrow Bey came to Bosnia after 60 years of the beginning of the Ottoman rule. His administration of the state was not a traditional administration, nor was it less efficient than his command of the army. He was able to make Sarajevo a distinguished cultural and economic center, so it deservedly be called the "golden age".

The Khosrow Bey Mosque is now located next to the historic clock tower built in the 16th century, within the main market in the heart of the capital, Sarajevo.

Ghazi Khosrow Bey was interested in establishing educational, economic and service institutions. He also established and developed the Islamic endowment system to ensure the self-financing of these institutions. At the top of these institutions comes the mosque that he built in 1530 in the most beautiful areas of Sarajevo, and his design was assigned to Ajam Ali, the chief architect in the Ottoman Empire, who made it a masterpiece. Technical and urban, in addition to the availability of all the necessary facilities from places for ablution, writers to teach the Qur’an, a library and others, according to a previous report by Al-Jazeera Net from Sarajevo.

Gazi Husrev Bey School in Sarajevo (Al Jazeera)

In one of the documents of the endowment of Ghazi Khosrow Bey in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, he says, "Every wise and sane person realizes that this world is transitory and is not a home or a dwelling place, but rather it is a passage that leads a person to the abode of salvation or hell, and the wise is the one who is not deceived by this world...".

In front of the mosque, Ghazi Khusrau Bey built a school, which is considered the first educational institution in the Balkans, in which dozens of scholars, intellectuals and men of government graduated in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Ghazi Khosrow Bey was interested in maintaining Sarajevo's elegance and cleanliness, so he ordered the establishment of a network to supply it with fresh water. .

The economic aspect attracted the attention of Ghazi Khusraw Bey, so he built dozens of shops that he endowed to spend on endowments, he also built dozens of shops that he allocated to artisans, and he built a closed market called “Bazistan Market” that contains dozens of shops, and he built a “Takya” to provide food for free to the needy of the country, travelers and passersby. .

Ghazi Khosrow Bey

Khosrow Bey was born in 1480 AD into a dynasty known as the king and the ruler. His Bosnian father, Farhad bin Abdullah, was the governor of the city of Serz in Greece, and his mother was Princess Seljuka, daughter of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II, the granddaughter of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror.

His father was killed in 1486 in a battle near the city of Adana in Anatolia while he was a commander in the army of Sultan Bayezid II. For this reason, Khosrow received early attention from his grandfather the Sultan and his maternal uncles. He was raised and raised in the Ottoman palace in Istanbul, which contributed to the refinement of his personality and his administrative, political and military capabilities.

Since his childhood, Khusraw showed a genius and a willingness to assume responsibility that qualified him to carry out many important diplomatic tasks and works for the state. In 1503 he was sent an official envoy in the name of the Ottoman Empire to the Emir of Russia, and accompanied his uncle Muhammad bin Bayezid during his tenure on the Crimea. Then, in 1519, he was appointed governor of the Serbian city of Smederevo. Then he became governor of Bosnia in 1521.

The tomb of Ghazi Khusrau Bey and next to it is the tomb of Murad Bey, the head of the endowment in Sarajevo (Al Jazeera)

On the military front, Khosrow was distinguished by rare courage as a soldier, and remarkable excellence as a military leader.

And after he became the governor of Bosnia, he built a strong Bosnian army, participated in it in many battles, and was at the head of the Bosnian army (under the banner of the Ottoman Caliphate) in the Battle of Mohacs against the Kingdom of Hungary in 1526, which ended with the victory of the Ottomans and the entry of Hungary under the authority of the Ottoman Empire, as He participated in the first siege of Vienna in 1529, but his most prominent military participation was his efficient contribution to the conquest of Belgrade, which was a reason for the Sultan to give him the title of "conqueror".

The invader Khosrow Bey was martyred in 1541 in one of the battles against the Serbs near Montenegro, and was buried according to his will in Sarajevo to the left of the mosque that bears his name.

The personality of the invader Khusrau Bey appeared clearly during his rule in Bosnia. Although he spent generously in charitable works out of piety and piety, at the same time he excelled in administration, politics and state leadership.