Minarets in the Mountains: A Journey Into Muslim Europe (Bradt Travel Guides (Travel Literature))

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Guided by two young local boys, Tharik visits an Ottoman hamman, and two historic mosques in the town. The first, the Arap Mosque was built in 1528, while the second, a 16th century building, was designed by Ottoman architect Muslihudin Abdulgani. Growing up in 1980s London, Hussain grew up being told he was unwanted in the place he called ‘home.’ He states that he felt a powerful sense of identification with Europe’s Muslims as ‘Europe's indigenous Muslims have always been made to feel like the 'Other' by the Western and historically Christian half of the continent.’ His tour of these Muslim territories was both an exploration and education. Riegelhuth Minaret - 10,560ft, class 4 This is a striking pinnacle from either Minaret or Cecile Lake. The West Face from the Pridham-Riegelhuth Notch is a short but challenging route. From the notch, scramble up to a ledge leading into the wide NW Chute about a third of the way up (this is more difficult if you try to enter the chute from the bottom). Scramble up the chute on thin ledges to the summit (Secor calls this a trough on the West Face). Passes

Hussain dispels the popular image of Eastern Europe as a secular, harsh, grey place ravaged by decades of communist rule and ethnic wars. Like so many second-generation Muslims, his impression of the region was shaped by the horrors of the Bosnian war (1992-1995). Knowledge of the region’s culture was superficial at best, with footballing icons like Hristo Stoichkov being seen as the greatest export. This image completely ignored the region’s six centuries of Muslim history and its huge native Muslim population. The drive of this book is to focus on the indigenous Muslim communities, though. So, while conflicts are mentioned when important, there is more talk of the wonders, legends and historical achievements along the way - from the tomb of Murad I to a 550-year old tree in Skopje to the rebuilding of the Stari Most, and an explanation of why it's so important to Bosnia’s Muslim heritage. The Ottoman Empire had absorbed Bosnia by the middle of the 15th century, and the Ottomans were to leave indelible marks on the Balkans for centuries to come. One demonstration of prowess was built in 1566 through the inspired vision of the architect Mimar Hajrudin: the Stari Most, which was, and is again, one of the world’s most imposing bridges, soaring over the Neretva River at Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Steve Fossett, an American aviator and adventurer, died in a plane crash near the Minarets in 2007. [10] Islamophobia is real and it could have started since long before. There have been aggressive attempts in replacing Muslim cultures, and deliberation of destroying them to the extent of writing up new and alternative narratives which is saddening. There are certainly historic blurring of religious lines across the Balkan. Much of the book has to do with descriptions of the architectural remnants of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, the centuries-old mosques, hamams and medresas of Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro. Hussain brings in a human element, talking to imams and worshippers, while “bowing down to God beside Europe’s indigenous Muslims”.In the beginning, in 2003, I was a philo-Serbian slightly Islamophobic journalist, who wanted to see for himself Europe’s last pariah state, whose bad-boy status placed it in the same unenviable company as Iraq, Libya, North Korea, and Cuba – countries that raised a collective middle finger to the US; a people, many of whom when America started bombing Iraq in 2003 cried: “Bravo Saddam!” Historically, people of different faiths in the Balkans did exist. The Muslims live alongside the Christians and Jews harmoniously eventhough the Muslims ruled the states or countries. The final anecdote that stood out for me was the ‘accidental’ tour guide Haris, who more than compensated for the initial disappointment of his having been a last-minute replacement; proof that everyone has a story to tell, and there are always hidden depths to be discovered. Equally, the quiet conversation with Aldin towards the book’s close provided a valuable lesson about the importance of dialogue between communities; for me, it served to sum up the themes of the book concisely.