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Bosnia's Islamic Revival
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by Tanweer | December 27, 2008 at 03:14 am
344 views | 2 Recommendations | 3 comments
CAIRO — With mosques sprouting and Islamic schools becoming a common scene in the multi-ethnic country, Bosnia is undergoing an Islamic revival, thirteen years after a devastating civil war.
"Children are fasting on Ramadan, going to the mosque more than their parents," Grand Mufti Mustafa Efendi Ceric told The New York Times on Saturday, December 27.
"We had de-Islamification for 40 years during Tito's time, so it is natural that people are now embracing the freedom to express their religion."
Since the country's 1992-1995 war ended, Bosnia has seen an Islamic revival in an assertion of the country's identity.
Photos
Several Islamic schools and mosques have been built in recent years.
Beard-wearing men and hijab-clad women have also become common in the multi-ethnic country.
Before the war, beard-wearing men and veiled women were almost unheard of.
In the cosmopolitan capital Sarajevo, Islamic education has been introduced in state kindergartens.
Dozens of streets named after Communist revolutionaries have also been renamed after Muslim heroes.
Political parties stressing Muslim identity have also won big in elections.
Bosnia, a small country on the Balkan Peninsula, is home to three ethnic "constituent peoples": mainly Muslim Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats.
Out of Bosnia and Herzegovina's nearly 4 million population, some 40 percent are Muslims, 31 percent Orthodox Christians and 10 percent Catholics.
Muslim Identity
The Islamic revival is seen as an assertion of the country's Muslim identity following the war.
"The Serbs committed genocide against us, raped our women, made us refugees in our own country," said Mufti Ceric.
"And now we have a tribal constitution that says we have to share political power and land with our killers."
Bosnia fell into a devastating civil war in 1992 that left 200,000 people dead and displaced millions.
In the final months of the war, Serb forces overran the city of Srebrenica, killing some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in one of the most shocking massacres in modern history.
The 1995 Dayton peace accord ended the war by splitting Bosnia into two ethnically-based autonomous regions, the Muslim-Croat federation and the Serb Republic.
"We Bosnian Muslims still feel besieged in the city of Sarajevo," said Ceric.
That resentment is evident across the capital.
As several thousand worshipers streamed into the King Fahd mosque on a recent Friday, a young man sat outside selling a popular Muslim magazine with US President-elect Barack Obama on the cover.
"Hussein, Will Your America Kill Muslims?" the headline asked, using Obama's middle name.
source: http://www.islamonline.co.uk/
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 17:18 on December 27th, 2008
Islamic education in kindergardens, veils and beards... Bosnia is turning backwards and intolerance and religious brainwashing is the norm. Moslems in Bosnia will use what happened in the war as an excuse to go to the extremes, the way Israelis are using the horrors of the 2nd World War to prevent Palestinians from having any rights. Bosnia is not a good place for Christians to live and have their children. No wonder they are all selling the lands that belonged to their fathers and grandfathers and going away. What is happening there now belongs not to 21st but 14th century. Pitty.
at 09:39 on December 28th, 2008
. Multi-faith SchoolsA Muslim charity In Swindon is bidding to run the first <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Multi-faith Muslim School for Muslim and non-Muslim children and have teachers from different faiths. An hour of the timetable each day would be dedicated to studying Arabic and the Holy Quran. Non-Muslims pupils would be able to be exempted from the lessons, but it is hoped that the majority would choose to stay in class to gain more “insight” into the Islamic faith.
In my opinion, Multifaith school is not going to be successful because non-Muslim parents would not send their children. In the past, a plan for a Multi-faith secondary school in Westminster for 1000 pupils could not be materialised because faith groups could not come to any agreement. Now even Hindu community has set up state funded school in Harrow. Black community is also thinking of setting up its own school with Black teachers. aHarrow and next year in Leicester.L
According to David Lammy MP, there are still too many inequalities in the education system which prevents disadvantaged children from applying to study for a degree. British schooling is wholly responsible for the inequalities. A culture of low expectation and a lack of rigour holding these pupils back. Every child must reach his full potential regardless of his background. Justice Secretary Jack Straw MP said British society should be one which recognizes and celebrates differences. One in which we all have an opportunity to flourish, regardless of who we are or where we are from. British schooling has been trying to integrate and assimilate Muslim community through education in the name of integration. The Imams and Masajid have been playing their parts to keep Islamic faith alive, but that is not enough. British schooling does not promote global cohesion. It does not encourage dialogue and increases understanding.
Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. They need to learn and be well versed in Standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. They need to learn and be well versed in Arabic to recite and understand the Holy Quran. They need to learn and be well versed in Urdu and other community languages to keep in touch with their cultural roots and enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry. Iftikhar Ahmad www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
at 18:59 on March 22nd, 2009
The reality on the ground ain't a pretty picture as this article suggests. A certain part of Bosnia's Muslim population might be becoming more radical, but many tend to fight back against such radicalisation as they see Bosnia to be home to some of the most moderate Muslims in the world.
Im sure as a result of radicalisation and "wahabist revival" there is also a lot of violence, as witnessed in the Sandzak/Raska areas of Serbia.
Radicalisation of religion in Bosnia is not a good thing. You cannot claim Sarajevo is a multi-ethnic or cosmopolitan city and believe that an introduction of an Islamic education in schools is a smart thing. What will the Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs say?
Will Bosnia look to become an Islamic country? lets not forget there are more Christians in Bosnia then there are muslims (41% Christian, based on this article and 40% Muslim)
As for genocide, the Mufti, seems to be only interested in Radicalising Islam through this way, Genocide cases against Serbia were not succesfull in the courts and it would be a good idea to drop the rhetoric. lets not forget, Sarajevo too was home to about 200 000 Serbs, who are now there as a tiny minority.