Čaršijska Džamija

Located in the heart of the historic center, at the foot of the clock tower, this 2015 mosque (Čaršijska Džamija) is a faithful replica of Stolac's main mosque, destroyed in 1993. Built in 1519, it was one of the oldest in the country. It was around this mosque that Stolac was built in the ^16th century. It was in fact surrounded by a čaršija (čaršija), a commercial and religious complex typical of Ottoman and Persian towns. Like the original model, the mosque is dedicated to the Ottoman sultan Selim ^I (reign 1512-1520). As such, it is also known as the "Sultan Selim Mosque" (Sultan Selimova Džamija) or the "Emperor's Mosque" (Careva Džamija). It is covered with a slate roof. Its minaret is 25.8 m high. The porch is painted with plant motifs typical of ^16th-century Islamic art. It is supported by ten columns, the numbers of which symbolize the fingers of God. The prayer room (16.4 x 9.2 m and 4.4 m high) houses two mahvils (platforms for the muezzin or imam during prayer) supported by eleven wooden columns. The number of columns evokes the eleven imams who were Muhammad's spiritual and political successors, with the twelfth imam still living, in "occultation", hidden in an invisible world. This can be seen in the country's oldest mosques, such as those in Prusac (central Bosnia). This symbol reveals the influence of the Gnostic Islam of the Sufi brotherhoods, which venerate the Twelve Imams in contrast to the Sunnis, who make up the majority of the country's Muslims.