Bosnian Muslims

A tolerant European Islam, we are in danger of forgetting, already exists in Bosnia. This article reports an interview with Mustafa Cerić, the reisu-l-ulema, or leader, of Bosnia’s Islamic Community (thanks to Anthony Cox for the link):

Cerić denies that there is a specific ‘Bosnian Islam,’ but argues that Islam in Bosnia has experienced unique developments in the course of the past 500 years. He calls the result ‘an Islam that threatens nobody and is directed neither against other peoples nor against its own society. We are for tolerance and civilized behaviour and reject the mentality of tribal society.’ Cerić notes that Jews and Christians also have their religious roots in the Middle East, adding that it should come as no surprise that Muslims, too, honour their own ties to that part of the world. ‘But we live in Europe, and I as a European Muslim would like to make my contribution to European civilization and be recognized accordingly.’ […]

But does Bosnian Islam have a particular contribution it can make to Europe? Cerić suggests that the Islamic Community and the institution of the reisu-l-ulema provide form and direction to the Muslim community of Bosnia, and that consequently he is not worried about its future. What he does worry about is Muslims in Western Europe, who are primarily a diverse mixture of immigrant communities. ‘The Muslims in Europe must develop their own unified [institution]. This is in Europe’s interest. Our religious teachers should be educated in Europe and regard themselves as European Muslims,’ Cerić says.

And what about the United States, whose military and diplomatic intervention in the Bosnian conflict is often credited with having saved the Muslim side from military defeat and worse? In the 15 October 2003 issue of Preporod, a front-page editorial entitled ‘American Friends’ quotes Cerić as saying that the Americans are indeed the friends of the Bosnian Muslims, who should make this point clear to their Muslim friends around the world. The Americans remain Bosnia’s friends, he adds, even if one would wish that the United States had a different policy in the Middle East. The editorial points out that the United States came forward with a donation of $1 million to make the proposed Srebrenica memorial centre a reality in 2003. Preporod also recalls the hospital visit of former US President Bill Clinton to Izetbegović in his final days, and quotes former US Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke as calling indicted Bosnian Serb war criminals General Ratko Mladić and Radovan Karadžić ‘the Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein of Europe’.