ISLAM AND NATIONALISM
RENEWED CROAT AND SERB CHALLENGES TO THE STATE’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY
The BOSNIAK community (Muslim BOSNIANS) is deeply frustrated with the dysfunctional government, flawed constitution and economic stagnation of BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (BiH), as well as renewed CROAT and SERB challenges to the state’s territorial integrity. The Islamic community has taken a leading role in channelling popular anger, filling a vacuum left by BOSNIAK political parties, whose leadership seems adrift. Political Islam is a novelty in BOSNIA, and its rise is seen as threatening to secular parties and non-Muslims. On the margins of society, a plethora of non-traditional Salafi and other Islamist groups have appeared, raising fears of terrorism. They are small, divided and largely non-violent, however, and the state and the Islamic community should work to integrate them further into society. Real instability and violence are more likely to come from clashing nationalisms. The Islamic community’s best contribution would be to help craft a vision for BOSNIA that CROATS and SERBS can share.
ISLAM: A STRONG ELEMENT IN THE POST-WAR BOSNIAK NATIONALISM
The Islamic community (Islamska zajednica, IZ) in BIH has is a religious organisation as well as an important political actor that has shaped BOSNIAKS’ national identity, though it has recently become more divided and disorganised. The still influential and charismatic former leader, Mustafa ef. Cerić, ensured that Islam became a strong element in the post-war BOSNIAK nationalism of which he was a main author and promoter. He likewise linked the BOSNIAK cause to BIH, which, though also multi-ethnic, he argued, should be a nation-state for the BOSNIAKS, since CROATS and SERBS already had countries of their own.
MUSTAFA EF. CERIĆ See:
INFLUENTIAL ISLAMIC COMMUNITY IN BOSNIA
The threat of fundamentalist Islam has been evoked repeatedly in BOSNIA since several thousand mujahidin arrived in the early 1990s, though it is foreign to the great majority of the Muslim population. Especially after 11 September 2001, when it embarked on its global war on terrorism, the U.S. in particular has pressed BOSNIAN authorities to arrest or deport individuals with possible links to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. Most recently, in December 2012, a self-declared Islamic insurgent was sentenced to eighteen years imprisonment for shooting at the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo the previous year. A month earlier, a BOSNIAN-born naturalised U.S. citizen was sentenced to life in prison for planning attacks in New York in 2009.
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| Mustafa ef. Cerić |
NO THREAT BY RADICAL ISLAMIC GROUPS
These cases nurture the perception that radical Islamic groups form a serious and unified threat to stability. In fact the few existing groups are small and divided. Some are integrated in the IZ; others reject its authority and withdraw to secluded communities. Virtually no home-grown radicals have been involved in violence; the vast majority of attacks have been the work of émigrés or persons with documented criminal or psychological records. There is a risk of similar, small-scale attacks in the future, but no sign of an organisation capable of or interested in mass violence or terror. To guard against future incidents, however:
- the Islamic community and Bosnian state officials should cooperate to engage non-violent Salafis, especially those returning from the Diaspora, in dialogue so as to encourage integration.
- RECRUITMENT OF BOSNIAK DIASPORA see: http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/wahhabism-in-bosnia-herzegovina-part-4.html
IT IS THE IZ’S USE OF BOSNIAK NATIONALISM, PARTLY IN RESPONSE TO PROVOCATIONS BY CROAT AND SERB NATIONALISTS, WHICH IS MORE LIKELY TO EXACERBATE TENSIONS.
This is the case today in Mostar, where the IZ advocates a hard line, seeking to unify BOSNIAKS in their political struggle with the main CROAT parties on how to elect local authorities and form the municipality. Though its city administration’s mandate and budget have expired, Mostar failed to hold elections in 2012; with no lawfully constituted city authority, services risk being suspended in the coming months. Without a difficult compromise, all residents will suffer. To overcome this crisis:
- Mostar religious leaders should be attentive to their constituency, which favours negotiation, and drop their hardline approach, support a compromise position acceptable to all three communities, refrain from divisive rhetoric and call upon the city’s political leaders to reach agreement without delay.
POLITICAL ISLAM PROMOTER, EX GRAND MUFTI CERIĆ, STILL INFLUENTIAL IN BIH
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| Grand Mufti, Husein Kavazović |
The election of a new grand mufti, Husein Kavazović, at the end of 2012, offers an opportunity to restructure and depoliticise the IZ and focus it on institutional reform. But the political Islam that Cerić promoted, based on the affirmation of a strong BOSNIAK identity, will be hard to let go as long as many BOSNIAKS feel that their state’s integrity is being challenged. Cerić remains active; he launched a World BOSNIAK Congress on 29 December 2012 that includes a strong presence from the Sandžak, a mixed, Muslim-majority region on the SERBIA-MONTENEGRO frontier.
SANDŽAK Region: See
SANDŽAK, AN AREA IN SOUTHERN SERBIA; WHICH HAS BECOME A CORE FOR ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM, LINKED WITH AL-QAEDA CELLS
More than any of the small Salafi groups operating in BOSNIA, further politicisation of the BOSNIAK cause may contribute to instability if it develops in opposition to the country’s other communities. To avoid dangerous escalation in nationalist conflict, the IZ and BOSNIA’S other religious communities should:
- withdraw from the partisan political arena by refraining from endorsement of parties or candidates; and
- commit to interfaith dialogue to seek common ground and shape a vision of the BOSNIAN state as the shared property of all three major communities.
Via International Crisis Group
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
BIH ISLAMIC COMMUNITY WELCOMES NEW LEADER (2012)
By Bedrana Kaletović for Southeast European Times
Kavazovic, 48, is well-regarded by other religious leaders. Although he is not without critics, his statement following the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 -- when he urged Muslims not to retaliate against SERBIAN civilians -- helped him build a reputation as a moderate.
"We will change and fix the obsolete and the bad," Kavazovic said in a statement to the media.
"We are facing serious tasks of progress and development. For that, we have the knowledge, ability and decisiveness. Strength, assured by the unity of Muslims and conscience of the BOSNAIKS, will be pointed towards the security and good of the country we live in. We will respect the responsibilities taken on and co-operate with neighbours of other faiths. We will contribute to the strengthening of the BOSNIAN AND HERZEGOVINIAN society, founded on the respect for diversity and responsibility for those varieties."
CERIC NEVER DISTANCED HIMSELF FROM WAHHABISM AND RADICAL ISLAMISTS
In succeeding Ceric, Kavazovic replaces a leader who frequently was accused of excess involvement in political decisions. Ceric never officially distanced himself from the Wahhabis and radical Islamists, and he proclaimed journalists who reported on these groups as Islamophobics.
KAVAZOVIC ON THE OTHER HAND IS ALLEGED TO BE RIGHT WING MILITANT MEMBER IN THE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY
Enes Osmancevic, a professor at the University of Tuzla, said Kavazovic is a member of a rural, right-wing militant stream in the Islamic community -- one that doesn't differentiate between religion and politics.
KAVAZOVIC: MORE POLITICAL THEN RELIGIOUS
"Kavazovic hides his right-wing orientation behind his concern for the faith and nation, and his militantism behind his patriotism". "His previous reasoning about the current issues of society and religion in BiH has shown that he indeed is, foremost, a politician of a one-dimensional provenience, who has for years been involved with SDA's decisions. His previous work is more political and less religious."
The changing leadership of the BOSNIAN Islamic Community comes just after a similar move in CROATIA, where Aziz Hasanovic became the first new mufti in 22 years. He hopes for the Islamic community to prosper as CROATIA becomes a member of the EU in 2013.
"Upon entering the EU, CROATIA, as a value, brings along the best-resolved Muslim situation in EUROPE," Hasanovic said. "We offer this as a model for resolving the issue of all Muslim minorities in the world, as well as that of Christian minorities in Muslim regions."
Related Background Information:
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