Raif Esmerović

Nafaka (provisions) kept us going

Bosniacs people are the only one Nafaka is an Arabic word which reached us
through the Ottomans. It is very important in
in the Balkans that use the word
Islamic teaching since it manifests
nafaka on an everyday basis. In
Allah’s mercy and in the Turkish
accordance to this it is worth
language it has numerous synonyms. In
analyzing culturally and
Bosnian nafaka is translated in a few
linguistically this word, because
ways: alimentation, provisions, supply or
of its immeasurable role in
supply for life. Two more terms in
studying the traditional life of
everyday use which signify wellbeing
our people. At the very beginning
and success are the Persian word baht –
of this short study it is necessary
luck, we come across it in certain love
to note one irrefutable fact which
spells, and the Arabic word bereket
states that the Bosniacs people
(berićet) – progress, prosperity. Besides
in its long history were exposed
these others, especially in folk speech, in
to numerous misfortunes, even a
use are words of similar meaning such
real danger of extinction, but
as hair, rizk, rahatluk, etc. All of these
what has kept and saved them is
represent fertile and positive events
their cheerful spirit and
which present themselves as feelings of
incorrigible optimism often
content, ecstasy and optimism.
summed up in this short phrase:
Psychological effect is manifested in the
“God will give us nafaka!”.
weight of the word nafaka, which
compares her to the state of hoe, solace
or hidden happiness. All of this is

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 Raif Esmerović
evident in statements such as: “You
never know where your nafaka is
waiting for you!”, “New day – new
nafaka!”, etc. This is why people believe
in nafaka fatalistically (“No one can take
away your nafaka!”), like almost
everything else that is tied to the holly
and divine.
Definition of the term nafaka is a
relatively wide and according to some
dictionaries could be shortly describes by
the following: “what is determined for a
human to eat in this world”. When a
diseased lives long, it is said: “he
collected (or bought) his nafaka” – when
someone before they die eats a lot he
desires to eat what is his in this world.
According to my opinion nafaka is a
term which in everyday discussions
takes the place of the term luck but also
human destiny i.e. life. Perhaps it would
be explained simply that nafaka
signifies everything that a person is
destined to receive and live through as
ordained by God. Among the folk we can
often hear “every child carries (brings
forth) their nafaka”, which was used by
poor parents to protect themselves from
the criticism of their surrounding
because they’re poor enough even
without children.
Nafaka determined by God
Identification of human birth, living and
death is summed up in the collective
consciousness of Bosniacs people in the
term of nafaka; “He was born with such
nafaka!”, “Whosever is born with good
nafaka no one can harm him!", “Such is
his nafaka!”, “He ran out of nafaka and
died”. “Nafaka is the best hero!” –
according to the belief in destiny, if
someone is destined to live, i.e. he didn’t
run out of nafaka, he can avoid death
and become a hero. According to folk
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tales a man lives so long as God has
prescribed nafaka to him, not a minute
longer. On that day when a man uses up
his nafaka he will die. According to the
above we can conclude that folk wisdom
doesn’t know happy and unhappy
people, but classifies them exclusively
with greater or lesser nafaka.
Belief in nafaka is a perfect example
how long certain beliefs were deeply
incorporated in the traditional lives and
that they create a certain notion of an
individual towards society, but also
himself. Primeval desire and need of
every human being is to a large extent
determined by the percentage of luck in
their life, since as folklore deliberation
suggests, a happy man is healthy,
successful and cheerful. That’s why
everyone of us intimately identifies with
the term nafaka. However, from the
tales of older people we could easily
conclude that the perception of nafaka is
individual and primarily depends on the
percentage of modesty, i.e. how much an
individual is content.
Origin of nafaka coincides with the folk
belief about human fate. Still to this day
it is believed that Allah determines the
destiny of every embryo in its first 40
days, which is why an ugly person
marries a beautiful woman, a stupid
man becomes rich, etc. Certainly, there
are opposite examples but all of them
are a product of smaller or greater
nafaka which a person carries inside of
them. I remember the discussion with
the late Bilka, stravarka from Stijena
(Cazin), almost a decade ago, which used
to talk about herself and her work and
often said that she always had nafaka,
as if it came out of the earth or fell from
the heaven, she used to say. Based on
the above we could conclude that nafaka
is weaved into the human beings, but
that it also exists in everything around
us due to its divine source.
To some extent nafaka can be called
god’s justice. –“No one can take away
 Raif Esmerović
your nafaka!”, older people would say
when they wanted to explain fatalism,
the thing which was destined to
someone. For example, it happened that
a father desired to leave his inheritance
to the youngest child, despite the
opposition of other family members. No
matter the various blackmails and
games that the family played in order to
change the fathers mind, the house in
the end was left to the youngest child.
Also, without halal (permissible) there is
no nafaka. Namely, there will be no
nafaka in the thing given as gift unless
it is given from the heart – halal. That’s
why stolen or forcefully taken things are
unlucky since they don’t have god’s
mercy in them.
Nafaka is a word which creates pleasure
and happiness and ubiquitous way
favours human senses. It caresses his
eyes and ears, seduces the nose and
overwhelms with pleasure the palate. If
a sudden guest arrives during coffee or
lunch, people would tell him: “You came
with nafaka, come on in!” or "Welcome,
it is your nafaka to eat (drink) this with
us!”. However, terminology in this case
cannot be simple in this case nor can it
be summed up in such an obscure form.
Namely, in folk discussions for meal the
term often used, even today in rural
areas, was "nimet", primarily for bread
or cake, but generally for food also.
Therefore it is wrong to equate the term
nafaka with food, instead it should be
viewed through a wider prism, in which
we can hint numerous meaning of
everything which this Arabic word
represents.
Summoning nafaka
Generally, though considered to be
divine gift of mercy, i.e. something that
mortals have no effect on, strong desire
for it among the people gave birth to
various ritual actions that summon
nafaka. Desire for nobility dominates in
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them since a generous act attracts good
which is what the saying from Kladuša
confirms: “Give alms, continue nafaka!”.
Similarly, grandmothers and
grandfathers which bless the young
would often say: “May Allah give you
gani nafaku!” or “May god give you
unimaginable nafaka!”, people claim
that it is better than “the seen one” since
it s greater and more plentiful.
In Cazin and Velika Kladuša the
prevailing belief was that nafaka could
be summoned, namely, when one would
buy cattle or something else it was a
custom to buy it in the name of the
family member for which it was believed
to have the most nafaka, in order to
allude that with such a purchase the
thing would be nafakali i.e. advanced
and happy. Similarly, when buying a
stove the first fire will be lit by the
family member which was thought of as
having the most nafaka in life, in order
for the home and family to be prosperous
and protected against evil.
In this part of Bosnia a ritual with
trahana (terwhane – Persian stew) was
known which was used to summon i.e.
stimulate nafaka. If someone is
unhappy, business isn’t doing well or is
prone to bad luck, during young Friday
he would make trahana but in such a
matter to let it overflow on fire (stove).
While the boiling white water is
overflowing from the vessel the person
would repeat three times:
Bismilahir rahmanir rahim.
As this tarhana is overflowing
on all sides,
so too may my nafaka overflow and cover
me,
with god’s will an my prayer.
Bosnian:
Bismilahir rahmanir rahim.
Kako ova trahana izvirala i kipila
na sve strane,
tako moja nafaka izvirila i mene
 Raif Esmerović
obasipala,
sa božijim emerom a mojim sepom.
After cooking tarhana in this manner
and cooling it, it would be consumed for
three days. Some informants recommend
eating the stew in small batches for
seven days. In such a manner, it was
believed, nafaka would be summoned.
In this context we shouldn’t forget to
mention halva – sweet that takes an
honourable place among Bosnian people.
It is traditionally made (roasted) on the
eve of Ramadan, Laylat al-Qadr and Eid,
since its smell cleanses the entire house
and attracts nafaka and wellbeing.
To be of a lucky hand
Tying food and nafaka is not rare in
folklore of our people and is especially
evident in marital customs, part where
the bride arrives before the grooms
house, where she is showered in candy
and money. At the threshold of the
house she is welcomed by a poor woman,
she takes her shoes off, and the bride
gives her a gift. A little later she is
welcomed by the mother-in-law with the
Qur’an and cake with two jugs of water
in hand. She places the cake under her
left and Qur’an under her right armpit,
two jugs each in one hand. Bride reaches
the hearth, Qur’an is given to the
women, cake and water is placed on the
hearth. It is believed, that the bride
brings nafaka into the house with this
ritual gesture. Also, it was a custom for
the bride and the groom to “break” the
cakes, and if for example a larger piece
of the cake stays in the grooms hand it
was believed that he will have greater
nafaka, and vice versa.
In Velika Kladuša in the past there was
a custom of a bride spreading her
handkerchief on the threshold of the
house and kissing it, before entering the
grooms house. She enters the house with
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her right foot and someone takes off her
shoes, since some money would be
hidden in her shoes as a gift for the
person that takes off her shoes, she then
goes towards the hearth. She kneels
there, she divides the embers using
tongs, throws her handkerchief into the
fire to burn – for nafaka.
For certain jobs it is very important to
be gifted with nafaka. Namely, for a
stravarka widely known for successful
lead melting or for an Imam which
writes effective talismans and amulets,
people say that they have “nafakali
(lucky) hand”. While melting lead, there
are a lot of small pieces at the bottom of
the vessel, the stravarka will comment:
“it is nafakali!”, i.e. the diseased will get
better.
Before starting the divination process
the diviner asks for the money from the
client in order to encircle the cards or
beads three times around it and place
the money in her pocket, explaining that
the process if used for nafaka. Similarly,
if nine groups of four beads appear
during the divination process, so called
hadžirli hatma, the diviner will utter
contently: “Your beads have fallen on a
great nafaka, cover it with a red cloth!”.
In the end we should mention the
following belief according to which it is
not good to give names to children of
deceased family members since “whoever
died he has no nafaka left”.