- Person
Abdulah Polovina was born Admir Polovina in Bosnia, in 1973. When he was five years old, his parents separated, and he grew up near Sarajevo with his mother. He attended a madrassa in Bosnia, and changed his name to Abdulah in honor of one of his teachers, who was later killed during the Yugoslav Wars. He served in the Bosnian army during the wars. He married in 1994, and he and his wife, Hatidza Polovina, later had five children. In 2001, the family emigrated to the United States and settled in Seattle, Washington. Abdulah Polovina earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington, and in 2015, he earned a master's degree from Seattle University's School of Theology and Ministry, where he was the first Muslim student. That same year, he and his family moved to Portland, Oregon, and in 2018, he began serving as imam at a mosque at the Islamic Bosniaks Educational and Cultural Organization.