Islamic Communities in Post-Yugoslav Countries

Journal of Muslims in Europe 10 (2020) 1-23
brill.com/jome
Islamic Communities in Post-Yugoslav Countries

The Legacies of the Islam Act of 1912
Dunja Larise
Institute for Advanced Studies of the ceu, Budapest, Hungary
dunja.larise@eui.eu
Abstract
Between 1880 and 1912 Austrian Empire issued several legal Acts regarding the terms
by which the Muslims of the newly adjunct territories in Bosnia and Herzegovina were
to settle their religious and community-related affairs within the framework of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. These Acts laid fundaments for the establishment of the
first autonomous Islamic religious institutions in the Austrian Empire. The present
article argues that institutions established during that time remained the most con-
spicuous legacy of the Austrian juristic regulation of Islamic affairs, not only in Bosnia
and Herzegovina but in all successor states of the former Yugoslavia as well as in pres-
ent time Austria itself.
Keywords
West Balkans – Islam in West Balkans – Islamic communities – Islam Act – Islam in
Bosnia and Herzegovina – Islam in Jugoslavia
1 Introduction
August 12. 2012. marked the hundredth anniversary of the enactment of the
Islam Act (Islamgesetz) in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This act, a form of
legal reaction to the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereafter B&H) in
1908, sought to regulate the terms by which the Muslims of the newly adjunct
Bosnian territories would settle their religious and community-related affairs
within the framework of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
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2 Larise
That legal act instituted an equal status of Islam of the Hanafi Islamic law
school with other legally recognized religions within the Empire. It also es-
tablished an official Islamic Community in B&H endowed with explicit legal
status and hierarchically organized structure. This formal organizational struc-
ture of the Islamic religious community was a novelty, hitherto unknown to
the Muslims in B&H.
Within the Ottoman Empire, Islam was the official religion, and hence there
was no need for a specific Islamic religious community to exist in Bosnia or any
other part of the Empire. The norms regarding religion, as well as the regula-
tion of religious practices, were issued in Istanbul under the auspices of the
highest religious cum secular authority, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and
the Caliph of the Sunni Islamic Caliphate, which in the Ottoman time were
titles invested in one single person.
The second most important religious authority after Caliph and the person
endowed with de facto power over Islamic religious issues within the Ottoman
Empire was the Mufti of Istanbul, holding the title of Shaykh al-Islām1, also
called Mešihat in Bosnia. The Mufti was Caliph’s representative in questions of
Islamic law—the Sharia.
The Islam Act of 1912 was just but a final step in the institutionalization of
Islam in B&H and accordingly in the Austrian Empire. The first steps in that
direction were undertaken already in 1880, two years after the Austrian oc-
cupation of B&H. Two central institutions of Islamic religious organization,
which were to become crucial for the development of all Islamic communi-
ties in Yugoslavia and its successor states after 1990, were already established
between 1880 and 1882. These institutions were: Riaset—the Supreme Council
of the Islamic Community in B&H and accordingly in the Austrian empire and
Reis-ul-Ulema, the head of the Assembly.
The present article argues that these two institutions remained the most
conspicuous legacy of the Austrian juristic regulation of Islam and the Islamic
community, not only in B&H but in all successor states of the former Yugoslavia
and to a great extent even in contemporary Austria.
As we shall see, most of the present controversies and debates over the le-
gitimacy of all official Islamic Communities in the region, still revolve around
these two institutions, whose fundaments were laid in the course of the three
decades from 1880 until 1912, during which time several Austrian legal decrees
and decisions concerning the Islamic community in B&H were issued.
The article focuses on the evolution of Islamic communities in all heir states
of ex-Yugoslavia and not only in these states which adhered to the former
1 In the Turkish language: Şeyhülislam.
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Islamic Communities in Post-Yugoslav Countries 3
Austro-Hungarian Empire. It analyses both their historical and existing connec-

tions with the Islamic community in B&H. The first reason for this particular
line of analysis is the intrinsic interconnectedness of all Islamic communities
in the former Yugoslavia, with the most numerous and most complexly orga-
nized Islamic community in B&H in the course of the last hundred years. The
second reason is that the current controversies regarding the issues of legiti-
macy raised by either competing or minority Islamic communities such as the
case in Slovenia, Serbia, Sandžak and North Macedonia all concern, to differ-
ent extents, their relationship to the Rijaset of the Islamic community in B&H.
The first part of this article presents the history of Muslim organizational
structures in the territories, which came to build the integral parts of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (hereafter sfry), covering the time
from 1880 until 1991. This historical introduction will offer a contextual frame
for a better understanding of existing organizations and current events, which
will be introduced in the second part of the article.
2 Short History of Islamic Communities in the Former Yugoslavia
Two years after the Congress of Berlin transferred the administration of B&H
to the Austrian Empire, its authorities appointed the supreme Sharia judge of
Sarajevo, Mufti Omerović, as the head of the newly established Islamic com-
munity in Bosnia. This political move reveals one crucial issue for the Austrian
Empire: the necessity of the regulation of Islamic affairs in the newly acquired
B&H and subsequently, the desire to establish an official Islamic community
in the Austrian Empire. The legal constitution of institutional Islam in the
Austrian Empire marked the end of the centuries-long tradition of Islamic
faith regulation cantered in Istanbul, which symbolically united all Islamic be-
lievers as the subjects of the Sultan cum Caliph of the Ottoman Empire.
The power tensions between Vienna and Istanbul became almost immedi-
ately discernible at the event of the appointment of the new Mufti of Bosnia
in 1880. The Shaykh al-Islām from Istanbul appointed a Turk for this position.
Austria rejected the candidate urging for a Bosnian Muslim instead. Finally,
Sublime Port appointed Mustafa Omerović as the Mufti of Bosnia. He was
promptly authorized by Austria, with the decree of October 17, 1882, licensing
him in the authority of Reis-ul-Ulema, an entirely new office established by
the Austrian Empire in order to serve as the head of the Islamic community
in B&H and accordingly in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Schmid, 1914). The
Austrian policy in B&H tended from the very beginning to detach the Islamic
community affairs in B&H from the organizational authority of the Sublime
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4 Larise
Port, thereby subsequently creating an Austrian Islamic community integrated

into structures of Austrian religious regulation.
In a similar vein Edmund Burke iii convincingly argues that the legitimiza-
tion of the French colonial power in Morocco was primarily facilitated through
a construction of an autonomous “Morrocan Islam” and its detachment of the
global Islamic Umma (Burke, 2014).
The situation in Bosnia after the Berlin Congress was a political novum from
which both empires aimed to achieve their best interest. Austria and Ottoman
empire shared some common interests as they were apprehensive of common
threats in Europe so that they often exchanged information through diplomat-
ic channels. One of the most serious common threats were emerging “national
movements, Pan-Slavism, and Russian machinations all intersecting in the
Balkans” (Amzi-Erdoğdular, 2013:146).
Shortly after the appointment of Omerović as Reis-ul-Ulema, Austrian au-
thorities appointed four additional members to his office, thereby creating de
facto the institution of Rijaset (Nakičević, 1996). It was the first time in the
case of Bosnia that the title of Reis-ul-Ulema was used to signify a post rather
then a title as was the case in the earlier Ottoman practice. In a legal canon
(Kanunama) issued under the reign of sultan Mehmed ii (1451-1481) the title of
Reis-ul-Ulema (a head of Ulema) is connected to the Mufti of Istanbul who is
also called a Şeyhülislam after the 17. century (Karčić, 2020).
With the decree of April 15, 1909, Austrian authorities issued a legal act
(Autonomiestatut), which ratified the autonomy of Islamic religious institu-
tions and charity organizations. This act was supplemented by the official rec-
ognition of the Hanafi School of the Sunni Islam as an official religion within
the Austro-Hungarian Empire on August 12, 1912 (Donia, 1981).
The institutions of the Reis-ul-Ulema and the Rijaset endured almost
unchanged until the present time in the successor states of the former
Yugoslavia. Within a field of the Post-Colonial Studies there is a vivid debate
about colonialism, identity and authenticity of different discourses among
the Muslims in Europe and in Western Balkans in particular. Some of these
debates touch the question if Islamic institutions in Western Balkans can at
the present be regarded as the colonial legacies of the Austro-Hungarian rule
or if their long endurance throughout different historical conjectures gives
them an authentic legitimacy in spite of the colonial context in which they
were created (Babuna, 2012; Blumi, 2011; Cerić, 2012; Cole, 2004; Dzenovska,
2013; El-Tayeb, 2011; Elbasani and Roy, 2015; Hajdarpašić, 2015; Henig, 2016;
Maussen et al., 2011; Rexhepi, 2017 and 2018; Schlipphacke, 2014). Some au-
thors go even further to argue that the concept of an authentic “European
Islam” as prominently promoted by the former Reis-ul-Ulema of the Islamic

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Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an Austrian colonial legacy

transcended into both, Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Islamic Community in Austria (iggö) (Rexhepi, 2019). The complexity of
these debates however goes well beyond the scope of the present article al-
though they surely deserve a due reference in every debate about the Islamic
institutions in Europe.
Enes Durmišević compares the position of Muslims in Bosnia and
Herzegovina under the Austrian Empire and the Muslims in the newly estab-
lished neighbouring Kingdoms of Serbia and Monte Negro arguing that the
position of Muslims under Austrian Empire was in many aspects better under
Austrian Empire (Durmišević, 2002).
The Berlin Agreement, which transferred B&H to the Austrian adminis-
tration, allowed Austria to establish its military garrisons in the province of
Sandžak, which had been a governmental part of B&H within the Ottoman
Empire. By the end of the Balkan wars in 1912, however, Serbia and Montenegro
invaded Sandžak and divided the province between their kingdoms. Austria
shortly occupied the territory between 1914 and 1918, but after wwi, it was
adjoined to the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenians
(hereafter scs, later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia under the Serbian crown).
After the dissolution of the sfr Yugoslavia Sandžak remained divided between
Serbia and Montenegro, according to the borderlines negotiated between the
two countries already in 1913 (Pilar, 1918).
In the 19. century, Serbia had different territorial expansion than at pres-
ent: without Sandžak and Vojvodina, but including Kosovo. Its southern parts,
which are now parts of Macedonia and Kosovo, were home to significant
Muslim populations and were notably extended after the end of the Balkan
wars and subsequent takeover of the northern part of Sandžak in 1912.
The first act of recognition of Islam in Serbia was the Law of the Lands
Belonging to Islamic Communities (Zakon o vakufskim zemljama) in 1863. Five
years later, on May 18, 1868, the Duke of Serbia Milan Obrenović issued the Act
of the Recognition of Freedom of Practice for Islamic Religion in Serbia. For
some historians, this act marks the moment of the de facto establishment of the
Islamic community in Serbia (Potežica, 2007). The question of whether Serbia
did have an instituted Islamic community before 1918, as the new Kingdom of
Serbs, Croats, and Slovenians was established, was of particular importance
for the subsequent development of Islamic institutions in the Kingdom of scs,
later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This question is crucial for the understanding
of the subsequent strife between the newly created state and the authorities
of the Islamic Community in B&H regarding the control over the regulation of
Islamic affairs and the representation of Muslim interests.

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In 1878, shortly after the Congress of Berlin, the Kingdom of Serbia estab-
lished the institution of the Mufti of Serbia in Niš. He was to be appointed
by the Shaykh al-Islām in Istanbul and authorized by the Duke of Serbia. In
1913 the first Grand Mufti of Serbia was ordained, and his seat established in
Belgrade.
The first Mufti of Montenegro, Salih ef. Huli from Ulcinj was appointed in
1878 by the decree of the Montenegrin king Nikola Petrović and authorized by
the Shaykh al-Islām of Istanbul.
Montenegro regulated Islamic affairs with paragraph 3. of article 129. of the
Constitution of Montenegro from 1905, which made the Mufti of Podgorica
the supreme authority of Muslims in Montenegro and a permanent member
of Montenegrin parliament. In 1918 the Montenegrin dynasty of Petrović was
overthrown, and Montenegro adjoined to Serbia under the Serbian crown of
Karađorđević (Rastoder, 2003).
In this vein, as the new Kingdom of scs was established in 1919, it inherited
two big centers of Islamic administration: one in Sarajevo with the office of
Reis-ul-Ulema and the other one in Belgrade with the office of the Grand Mufti.
In article 10. of the peace agreement with Austria from September 10, 19192,
the newly established Kingdom of scs was obliged to overtake responsibilities
for Muslim populations living in its newly acquired territories. These respon-
sibilities included three central issues: First, the family and personal status of
Muslims was to be defined according to Muslim traditions. Second, the gov-
ernment was obliged to protect the already existing Muslim religious objects
(mosques, mesdžids, etc.) and endowments and to assist in the foundation of
the new institutions of this kind. Finally, the government was required to ap-
point a new Reis-ul-Ulema for the entire country.
Under this agreement, which was incorporated in the constitution of the
new state (the so-called Vidovdan Constitution ) the pivotal institutions of the
Austrian regulation of Islamic affairs for B&H continued to build the frame-
work for the regulation of Islamic affairs within the new Kingdom of scs.
Additionally, the Vidovdan Constitution acknowledged the juristic authority
of Sharia courts over the Muslims living in the Kingdom, even though such
courts were non-existent outside of Bosnia and Sandžak.
The Vidovdan Constitution was drafted by a coalition of the Democratic
Party of Serbia, the party of prime minister Nikola Pašić, and the Serbian
Radical Party. However, it could not have reached the necessary majority
without the support of the Yugoslav Muslim Organization (ymo), which ob-
tained the majority vote in B&H. The ymo was founded by two men: Ibrahim
2 https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/milestones-to-peace-the-treaty-of-st-germain-en-laye/.

in Europe 10 (2020) 1-23
Maglajlić, the Mufti of Tuzla, and Sarajevo-based lawyer Mehmed Spaho. Both
men conditioned their support to the Vidovdan Constitution by the provision
of article 135, which was to guarantee the future administrative borders of B&H
within the Kingdom of scs (Petranović, 1988).
Nikola Pasićs’s new government appointed Džemaludin Čaušević, acting
Reis-ul-Ulema of B&H since 1913 (still in the Austrian Empire), as the new
Reis-ul-Ulema for the entire country. His seat was to remain in Sarajevo. The
actual nonexistence of the Sharia courts outside of Bosnia and Sandžak struc-
turally limited his powers regarding the implementation of the Sharia over
Muslims in other regions of the Kingdom (notably Serbia, Montenegro, and
Macedonia)3. These other regions, but de facto also his own office, were under
the jurisdiction of the newly established Ministry of Religion, and accordingly
under the jurisdiction of the chief of the Islam office, Hasan Rebac.
Between 1929 and 1935, the situation worsened significantly for the Islamic
communities in the Kingdom. This period has become known as the “January 6.
dictatorship” during which the king Aleksandar Karađorđević abolished the
Vidovdan Constitution and introduced his own autocratic rule, thereby re-
naming the state the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Clayer and German, 2008).
The “January 6. Dictatorship” introduced some changes in the regulation
of Muslim affairs. Religious affairs were set under the auspices of the Ministry
of Justice. The autonomy of the Muslim community in B&H over the regu-
lation of Islamic affairs was abolished, and the institution of Reis-ul-Ulema
was transferred to Belgrade. In 1930, Reis Čaušević requested retirement and
Ibrahim Maglajlić (one of the two key persons of ymo) was appointed as the
new Reis-ul-Ulema in Belgrade in the presence of the king Aleksandar and the
diplomatic assembly.
In 1935, new elections ended the “January 6 dictatorship”. Mehmed Spaho4,
the leader of the ymo, entered the government of Milan Stojadinović as the
Minister of Transport and Communications, thereby making a strong case for
the abrogation of all reforms enacted under the dictatorship. These concerned
the issues regarding the office of the Reis-ul-Ulema primarily. Under his pres-
sure, the institution of Reis-ul-Ulema was transferred back to Sarajevo, and
incumbent Reis Maglajlić, now Spaho’s political detractor, was sent into retire-
ment in 1936.
3 At the time, there were no significant Muslim populations in Croatia and Slovenia. These
populations were built in the course of the internal migrations within the sfry after 1945.
4 In the meantime, the alliance between him and Reis Maglajlić broke down, and they became
political detractors.

8 Larise
In 1938, Fehim Spaho (Mehemed Spaho’s brother) was appointed as the

new Reis-ul-Ulema for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia with the seat in Sarajevo
and Salih Safet Bašić as the head of the Office for Islamic Affairs in Belgrade
(Nakičević, 1996).
World War ii and the establishment of satellite fascist states in Serbia and
Croatia radically changed this settlement. The satellite government in Serbia
under Milan Nedić harboured strong anti-Muslim sentiment and favoured a re-
ligiously homogenous, orthodox Serbia. That was especially true for the fascist
“Chetnik” troops of Dragutin Draža Mihajlović, who committed widespread
ethnic cleansing of Muslims in the tales of the rivers Lim and Drina, following
the political program of ethnically and religiously “clean” orthodox Serbia.
Contrary to that, the ideology of the Croatian fascist satellite state, which
covered parts of present-day Croatia and B&H, was founded on the idea of
the ethnic identity of Muslims and Croats, who were regarded as one Croat
nation with two religions: Muslim and Catholic. In this vein, the Muslims in
the “Ustaša” state were called “Islamic Croats.” Consequently, Ante Pavelić, the
head of the Croat satellite state and himself a Croat from B&H, established the
first mosque in Zagreb in August 1944. For this purpose, an art gallery in the
center of Zagreb was repurposed to a new sacral function. That mosque, which
was the first to be founded in Croatia and was popularly called “poglavnikova
džamija” (“The leader’s mosque,” meaning Ante Pavelić) was closed and func-
tioned back into an art gallery after the end of the World War ii.
The first Islamic Community Assembly (Vakufski sabor) after World War ii
took place on August 26, 1947, in Sarajevo. The organizational structure of the
new Islamic Community of Yugoslavia reflected the principle of autonomous
republics of Yugoslavia on the one hand and the tradition of autonomous re-
ligious communities inherited from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on the other
(Džaja, 2002). Vakufski Sabor still belongs to institutional practices of the con-
temporary Islamic Communities in the successor states of the sfr Yugoslavia.
In this vein, the organizational structure of the Islamic community of sfr
Yugoslavia consisted of four units, each delegating representative for the High
Assembly of the Islamic Community of Yugoslavia (Vrhovni sabor Islamske
zajednice Jugoslavije) with the seat in Sarajevo. These four units were: The
Supreme Authority of the Islamic Community of B&H, Croatia, and Slovenia
(Starješinstvo Islamske Zajednice Bosne i Hercegovine Hrvatske i Slovenije) with
the seat in Sarajevo and thirteen delegates in the High Assembly, the Supreme
Authority of the Islamic Community of Serbia (Starješinstvo Islamske zajednice
Srbije) with the seat in Priština and twelve delegates, the Supreme Authority
of the Islamic Community of Macedonia (Starješinstvo Islamske zajednice
Makedonije) with the seat in Skopje and seven delegates, and the Supreme

in Europe 10 (2020) 1-23
Authority of the Islamic Community of Montenegro (Starješinstvo Islamske za-

jednice Crne Gore) with the seat in Titograd (now Podgorica) and two delegates
in the High Assembly of the Islamic Community of Yugoslavia.
The High Assembly elected the Reis-ul-Ulema of Yugoslavia. In the histo-
ry of the Islamic Community of sfr Yugoslavia, only one Reis-ul-Ulema has
not been from B&H: its last Reis-ul-Ulema, Jacub Selimovski from Macedonia
(1989-1992).
Between 1947 and 1992, the Islamic community of Yugoslavia adopted four
constitutions: in 1947, 1959, 1969, and 1990.
According to the Constitution of 1969, the High Assembly (Vrhovni sabor
Islamske zajednice Jugoslavije) remained the highest Islamic authority in sfr
Yugoslavia, and the four Supreme Authorities of the Islamic Community
(Starješinstva Islamske zajednice) were its executive organs.
The constitution of April 12, 1990, brought profound changes in the organi-
zational structure of the Islamic Community of sfry. This constitution created
the fifth organizational sub-unit of the High Assembly: The Supreme Authority
of Islamic Community of Croatia (Starješinstva Islamske zajednice Hrvatske),
which also comprised Slovenia, with its seat in Zagreb. The representatives of
the High Assembly of the Islamic Community of sfr Yugoslavia (Vrhovni sabor
Islamske zajednice Jugoslavije) were to be elected for four years. The Supreme
Authorities of the Islamic Community (Starješinstvo Islamske zajednice), which
were now five, changed their name to Mešihats, acting as executive organs of
the High Assembly of Islamic Community, now Rijaset of Islamic Community
and still the highest authority of Islamic Community in the sfry. The High
Assembly counted forty-six members, out of which thirteen were delegated
from Sarajevo, twelve from Prishtina, nine from Skopje, and six each from
Titograd and Zagreb. According to Article 46, the Reis-ul-Ulema remained the
head of the Islamic Community of sfry with his seat in Sarajevo.
The Islamic Community of sfr Yugoslavia ended with the end of sfr
Yugoslavia itself. On February, 5. 1993, the Rijaset of the Islamic Community
of sfr Yugoslavia held its last meeting in Skopje. This meeting decided that all
new successor states of the sfry should establish new and independent Islamic
communities. That had already been the case (even before this last meeting)
in B&H, Montenegro (still in the shared state with Serbia), and Macedonia,
which have already had established their autonomous Islamic communities
endowed with their own Rijaset and Reis-ul-Ulema (Barišić, 2008).
The Rijaset of Islamic Community in B&H comprised (and still comprises at
present) the Islamic Communities in Croatia, Slovenia, and Sandžak (Serbia)
at the level of Mešhiats, which are subordinated to the Rijaset of Islamic
Community in Bosnia.

10 Larise
3 One Islamic Community for Each Successor State?—The

Controversies over Legitimate Representation of Muslims in
Serbia and Slovenia
The idea pronounced at the last meeting of the Islamic Community of

Yugoslavia in Skopje in 1993 that envisaged one Islamic Community for each
of the successor states of sfr Yugoslavia turned out to be very hard to realize.
The projects of the new states cum nation-building in post-Yugoslavia made
a conspicuous impact on national and political identities of post-Yugoslav
Muslims, which were mirrored in the organizational structures of the new
Islamic communities.
Contested national identities, still in the process of construction, evolved to
be the central rationale for the rivalry for the leadership among different post-
Yugoslav Islamic communities in the next two decades. These new evolving
national identities have very often been far too complex to fit into the scheme
of one community for one state. Moreover, the inherited borders of the future
states have themselves been ferociously contested.
Another noteworthy aspect is the choice each of the new Islamic commu-
nities has made about the usage of religious titles to designate the hierarchi-
cal structures of their newly established communities which also reflect the
complex web of issues related to the succession of the Islamic Community
in Yugoslavia.5
The following cases will demonstrate the complexity of the problems con-
nected with leadership and legitimate representation in the context of volatile
state and nation-building processes in which the institutionalization of Islam
in some successor states of sfr Yugoslavia was embedded.
3.1 How Many Islamic Communities for Serbia?

Since the Head of the Islamic Community in Serbia (within sfr Yugoslavia)
resided in Prishtina/ Priština, it was hardly surprising that, with the begin-
ning of the disintegration of Yugoslavia and concomitant wars led by Serbia
5 “What would a historian advise (if asked) to do with the titles of Muslim religious lead-
ers in the former Yugoslavia? The advice would be to return to the time before Yugoslav
unification and for the iz to affirm its autochthonous institutions in each independent
state. This would mean a return to the titles of mufti, supreme mufti and reis-l-ulema,
depending on which territory is in question and which pre-Yugoslav period. Different
titles would reflect different paths of historical development, significance and tradition.
Thus, there was an inflation of the use of the highest titles and a loss of their real signifi-
cance.”: Fikret, Karčić, „Tituliranje vjerskih autoriteta: Nehistorijske titulacije“, Preporod,
(3. October 2016). (Translated from Bosnian by the author)

in Europe 10 (2020) 1-23
in Slovenia, Croatia, and B&H, the predominantly Albanian leadership of the

Serbian Islamic Community in Priština/Prishtina reorganized the community
on the level of the autonomous province of Kosova/Kosovo. The result was the
establishment of the Islamic community of Kosova in 1993, which was sup-
posed to represent the Muslim population of the province.
In the same year, Muslims in the Serbian part of Sandžak, who overwhelm-
ingly identified with Bosnian Muslims or Bosniaks after 19936, established their
own Islamic Community in Sandžak with the seat in Novi Pazar. The Islamic
Community in Sandžak has, from the beginning, been under the jurisdiction of
the Islamic Community in B&H and accordingly under the influence of its po-
litically powerful Reis-ul-Ulema, Mustafa Cerić. Similar to the Islamic commu-
nities in Slovenia and Croatia, the Islamic Community in Sandžak forms part
of the Islamic community in B&H as one of the Mešihats of the Rijaset of the
Islamic community in B&H. Local Islamic communities in the Montenegrin
part of Sandžak became a contested territory between the Islamic commu-
nity in Sandžak and the Islamic community in Montenegro during the 1990s.
They remained nevertheless under the jurisdiction of the Islamic Community
in Montenegro.
The reason why the Islamic communities in Slovenia, Croatia, and Sandžak
are organizational units under the jurisdiction of the Islamic community in
B&H have to do, first, with the definition of the scope of representation in the
early organization of the Islamic Community in B&H dating from 1993, and
second, with the national identity building of Yugoslav and Bosnian Muslims
in the 1990s.
The First Renewal Meeting (Prvi obnoviteljski sabor) of the new Islamic
Community in B&H was held on April 28, 1993, in Sarajevo, which had already
been under siege for a year. Its central aim was “the renewal of the autono-
my this community has held according to the statute of 1909” (Karčić, 2009).
In this meeting, the Islamic Community in B&H was defined as the “unique
and autonomous religious community to which all Muslims in Bosnia and
Herzegovina adhere as well as all Bosnian Muslims temporary or permanently
6 The first Bosniak General Assembly (Bošnjački sabor), held on September 27, 1993. as well
as the second Renewal Meeting (Obnoviteljski sabor) of the Islamic Community in Bosnia
held in 1997 at the initiative of Mustafa Cerić, made decisions of historical significance. The
two Assemblies decided that the official name of the Muslims as a national category is to be
substituted with the name “Bosniak, which is not to be confounded with “Bosnian”—the des-
ignation of territorial belonging; regardless of nation or ethnicity. According to the Yugoslav
constitution of 1971, Muslim written with majuscule “M” indicated one among the official na-
tions of Yugoslavia. In contrast, “muslim” written in minuscule “m” indicated only belonging
to Islamic religion regardless of the national background.

12 Larise
settled abroad.”7 In this line of argument it was consequently possible to le-

gitimize the authority of the Islamic Community in B&H over the Islamic
Communities in Slovenia, Croatia, and Sandžak by evoking the argument of
the ethnic identity of Bosnian Muslims as the majority Muslim group in these
countries and accordingly to legitimize the self-proclaimed prerogative of the
Islamic Community in B&H to represent Muslims living outside B&H.
The Second Renewal Meeting (Drugi obnoviteljski sabor) on November,
26.1997, in Sarajevo further sharpened the definitions. The above-quoted defi-
nition was mostly unchanged, except that the term “Bosnian Muslim” was sub-
stituted with “Bosniak.”8 It introduced the explicit definition of the Mešihat of
Islamic Communities in Sandžak, Slovenia, and Croatia as being the “constitu-
tive parts of the Islamic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”9 The contro-
versy over who represents whom in Islamic communities of post-Yugoslavia has
been exacerbated by the sometimes intentionally foggy definition of Bosniak
in these documents. It is considered as an ethnic, and later national, category
generally defined by the adherence to the Islamic religion, but is sometimes
also defined by birth or origin connected to the territory of B&H. That is espe-
cially salient in the case of the construction of national identities of Muslims
in both parts of Sandžak.
In 1994, another Islamic community in Serbia was established in Niš. The
Mešihat of the Islamic Community of Serbia (as this Islamic community
named itself) claimed to represent all Muslims of Serbia, except those in
Kosovo and Sandžak, which were already organized. At that time, the Islamic
Community of Serbia comprised three central organizational units (Medžlis):
in Beograd, Novi Sad, and Niš. It operated mosques in Belgrade, Novi Sad, and
Mali Zvornik, as well as one medersa (Islamic school) in Belgrade.
According to their self-definition, the Islamic community of Serbia is eth-
nically heterogeneous and includes Ashkalis, Albanians, Bosniaks, Egyptians,
Goranci, Roma, Serbs, and Turks (Barišić, 2008).
These two Islamic Communities in Serbia were on conflictual terms since
the times of their establishment, but the animosities increased even further
in 2007.
On February 19, 2007, the Islamic community of Serbia adopted the new
constitution, by which it established the Rijaset of the Islamic Community of
Serbia with the Reis-ul-Ulema of Serbia at its head.
7 Article 1. of the Constitution of ic in Bosnia and Herzegovina of 1993.

8 Article 1. of the Constitution of ic in Bosnia and Herzegovina of 1997.
9 Article.1. Constitution of 1997.

in Europe 10 (2020) 1-23
According to the constitution, the Islamic community of Serbia comprised

three organizational units at the level of Mešihat and Medžlis: Mešihat of
Serbia (Beograd centre, Beograd Srem, Beograd, Banat, Beograd Šumadija,
Bački, Banatski, Podunavsko-Braničevski, Mali Zvornik, Šumadijski, Niški),
Mešihat of Sandžak (Novi Pazar, Tutin, Sjenica, Prijepolje, Priboj, Nova Varoš),
and Mešihat of Preševo (Preševo, Bujanovac, Medveđa).
The Imam of Tutin, Adem Zilkić, was elected as the Reis-ul-Ulema of Serbia
and the Grand Mufti of Belgrade, Hamdija Jusufspahić, was granted the title of
honorary Reis-ul-Ulema for his lifetime.
The reaction to these developments in Sarajevo and Novi Pazar has expect-
edly been repugnant and interpreted as a unilateral and illegitimate act.
On March, 27. 2007, the Islamic community in Sandžak organized the
Unification Meeting (Objediniteljski sabor), at which this Community also
adopted the new constitution. The Islamic Community in Sandžak changed
its name to Mešihat of the Islamic community in Serbia with the seat in Novi
Pazar. Same as its juristic predecessor, the new Islamic Community in Serbia
remained part of the Islamic Community in B&H. Mustafa Cerić, Reis-ul-Ulema
of B&H, promoted the incumbent Mufti of Novi Pazar, Muamer Zukorlić,
to the authority of the president of the Mešihat of the Islamic Community
in Serbia.
In its constitution of 2007, the Islamic community in Serbia claimed to be
the “one and unique traditional community of Muslims from the regions of
Sandžak, Preševo Valley, Central Serbia, and Vojvodina, as well as Muslims in
diaspora and all those who accept it as their own.”10
Article 6 confirms that the seat of the Islamic Community in Serbia remains
in Novi Pazar, but allows for the possibility of an eventual transfer to Belgrade.
According to the new constitution, the Mešihat of the Islamic community in
Serbia comprises four organizational units: Muftiship of Sandžak (Novi Pazar,
Tutin, Sjenica, Rožaje, Bijelo Polje, Prijepolje, Priboj, Nova Varoš, Petnjica i
Berane, Plav, and Gusinje), Muftiship of Preševo (Preševo, Bujanovac, and
Medveđa), Muftiship of Belgrade (Zemun, Niš, Smederevo, Loznica, Krupanj,
and Kostolac), and Muftiship of Novi Sad (Novi Sad, Beočin, Subotica, and
Zrenjanin).
Expectedly, the Islamic Community of Serbia in Belgrade did not look with
a friendly eye at the new developments in the Islamic community of Serbia in
10 “Islamska zajednica u Srbiji je jedna i jedinstvena tradicionalna vjerska zajednica musli-

mana sa područja Sandžaka, Preševske doline, Centralne Srbije i Vojvodine, muslimana
diaspore i drugih muslimana koji je prihvataju kao svoju.”, Article 1. Constitution of the
Islamic Community in Serbia (2007).

14 Larise
Novi Pazar. It unilaterally dismissed Muamer Zukorlić from the position of the
Mufti of Novi Pazar, which Zukorlić expectedly refuted as illegitimate.
The story gains an additional complexity through the Islamic organizations
from southern Serbia. Already in 1971, the Muslims of the southern Serbian
municipalities of Bujanovac, Preševo, and Medveđa, which were predomi-
nantly ethnic Albanian and Roma, organized their own autonomous Islamic
Committee under the name Committee of the Islamic community of Kosovo
for Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa (Odbor Islamiske zajednice Kosova za
Preševo, Bujanovac i Medveđu). This community is currently under the leader-
ship of Mumin Tahiri.
In 2003, however, another autonomous Islamic community of Preševo,
Bujanovac and Medveđa (Islamska zajednica Preševa, Bujanovca i Medveđe)
was founded with Džemaludin Hasani at its head. As the reason for the foun-
dation of an autonomous Islamic Community in the region, he stated that “the
communist times have long passed in which the Islamic Community form
Sarajevo controlled everything” (Potežica, 2011).
Expectedly, the first Community operates under the auspices of the Islamic
community in Serbia with the seat in Novi Pazar and the later under the aus-
pices of the Islamic community of Serbia with the seat in Belgrade.
The concurring Islamic communities in Serbia seem to have divided their
area of influence according to the territorial principle, but this impression may
deceive. The loyalties and alliances to each of them do not show a territorial
or even predominantly ethnic pattern. For example, the Islamic community
in Serbia from Novi Pazar has a considerable number of critics from the ranks
of civil society and political adversaries in Sandžak itself, such as the Bosniak
National Assembly of Sanžak (Bošnjačko nacionalno vijeće Sandžaka).
The dispute has been additionally sharpened as the former Reis-ul-Ulema
in Bosnia and Hercegovina Mustafa Cerić administered a Fatwa against
Reis-ul-Ulema of the Islamic community of Serbia Adem Zilkić in 2012 declar-
ing the Islamic community lead by the later a Masjid al-Dirar—the Mosque of
Dissent.11 The name refers to a story mentioned in Kuran about the Mosque in
Medina that was burned to the ground on prophet Muhameds orders for not
complying with his decrees.
The same year Husein Kavazović, Mufti of Tuzla succeeded Mustafa Cerić
on the head of the Islamic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina; neverthe-
less, deep divisions between the two organizations remain a political reality,
11 https://sandzakpress.net/reis-ceric-izdao-fetvu-protiv-slijedenja-adema-zilkica/ and
https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/reakcije-fetva-jedan-u-nizu-nepromisljenih-poteza
-cerica/24771099.html.

in Europe 10 (2020) 1-23
as does the fact that Muslims in Serbia seems to prefer organizing in different,
instead of just one Islamic community.
3.2 Who Decides over the Islamic Matters in Slovenia?

In Slovenia, there are two parallel Islamic associations: Islamic Community in
Slovenia Islamska skupnost v republiki Sloveniji, which claims to be an umbrella
organization of all Muslim communities in Slovenia and is under the jurisdic-
tion of the Islamic community in B&H, and Slovenian Muslim Association
Slovenska Muslimanska skupnost, which was founded in 2006 as an autono-
mous community after a series of conflicts within isrs. The former is led by
the mufti Neždad Grabus and the latter by Muhamed Čerkez.12
The isrs was founded in 1994, during the disintegration of the sfry, claim-
ing to be the heir of the former Yugoslav association of Muslims in Slovenia.
The sms was founded as a reaction to the conflicts within Slovenian Muslim
communities around the question of autonomous decision making, notably
over issues regarding leadership and monetary funds, which had hitherto been
under the jurisdiction of the Rijaset of Muslim Community in B&H.
In their own words: “Slovenska muslimanska skupnost stands for the right of
Slovenian Muslims to take part in the election of muftis in Slovenia. We want
to decide about who should lead us and not that these decisions are made in
another country (as if we were silly children). The Muslims of Slovenia do not
have the Mufti they have elected themselves. Nobody asked them, and nobody
gave them the opportunity to decide for themselves.”13
In defense of the current model of the organization under the jurisdiction
of the Rijaset of the ic in B&H, the isrs refers to the Islam Act of 1912 in order
to demonstrate that Islam had been one of the official religions in Slovenia
(at the time part of the Austrian Monarchy) for already one hundred years. It,
therefore, concludes that:
The history of the Islamic community in Slovenia and the awareness of

the existence of Muslims in this state is unthinkable without the Muslim
community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Islam has an unbroken con-
tinuity on the territories of the former Austrian Empire and in former
12 http://www.islamska-skupnost.si.
13 »Slovenska muslimanska skupnost« se zavzema za to, da muslimani Slovenije sodelujejo
v izbiri muftija v Sloveniji. Da sami odločamo, kdo nas bo vodil in ne da o nas odločajo
v drugi državi (kot da smo slaboumni otroci). Muslimani Slovenije trenutno nimajo
muftija, ki so ga oni izbrali. Nihče jih ni vprašal, nihče jim ni dal možnost da odločajo.”
Source: http://www.smskupnost.si/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=
378&Itemid=25.

16 Larise
Yugoslavia thanks to the Islamic community in B&H and Mešihats of the

Islamic community in Croatia and Slovenia, until finally the isrs was es-
tablished in 1994. For already almost one century, the Ulama in Sarajevo
has been dealing with the Islamic religious questions.14
On their website, they offer a short overview of the history of the Muslim
Community in Slovenia, which according to this source, officially begins
with the Austrian occupation and subsequent annexation of B&H and con-
tinues with the economic migration of Muslims from Bosnia, and later from
Macedonia and Kosovo to Slovenia. The Muslims of Bosnian origin make up
an overwhelming share of the Muslim population in Slovenia, which seems to
have decisive leverage in the current controversies over authority and legiti-
macy within the Muslim communities in Slovenia.
4 Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Montenegro
Similar to the Islamic Communities in Slovenia and Sandžak, the Islamic

Community in Croatia exists as a Mešihat under the Rijaset of Islamic
Community in B&H.
According to the census of 2011, Muslims make up 1.47% of the popula-
tion in Croatia.15 The Muslim population of Croatia is divided between the
following ethnic groups: 45,525 Bosniak Muslims 9.647 Croat Muslims 9,594
Albanian Muslims.
The Islamic Community in Croatia is organized into thirteen communities
(Medžlis) in the following cities: Dubrovnik, Gunja, Labin, Osijek, Poreč, Pula,
Rijeka, Sisak, Slavonski Brod, Split, Umag, Varaždin, and Zagreb. The seat of the
Mufti, currently Aziz Hasanović, is in Zagreb.
In Zagreb, the Islamic Community operates the Islamic Canter (with a
mosque and cultural canter) and the Islamic school (Medersa) “Dr. Ahmed
Smajlović.”16
14 “Nemogoča je zgodovina Islamske skupnosti v Sloveniji in zavest o prisotnosti mus-

limanov v tej državi brez Islamske skupnosti v bih v obdobju Avstro-ogrske, pa tudi
kasneje v Jugoslaviji, Mešihata Islamske skupnosti za bih, Hrvaško in Slovenijo, pa tudi
Mešihata Islamske skupnosti na Hrvaškem in v Sloveniji vse do končnega organiziranja
Islamske skupnosti v Sloveniji, leta 1994. Več kot eno stoletje se je z religioznimi islams-
kimi vprašanji ukvarjala ulema iz Sarajeva.”
Source: http://www.islamska-skupnost.si/index.php?option=com_content&view=
article&id=1&Itemid=2.
15 Stanovništvo prema vjeri, po gradovima/opcinama, popis 2011. Republika Hrvatska—Dr
avni zavod za statistiku, http://www.dzs.hr/.
16 http://www.islamska-zajednica.hr/islamska_zajednica/medzlisi.php.

in Europe 10 (2020) 1-23
The Islamic Community in Kosova/ Kosovo (Bashkësia Islame e Kosovës)

was established in 1993 with the seat in Prishtina/ Priština. At the seat of
the Mešihat of the Islamic community of Kosovo is a grand mufti, currently
Naim Tërnava.
In Kosovo, Albanian Muslims make up more than 90 percent of the popula-
tion, but there are also small groups of other Muslim populations like Turks,
Goranci, Roma, and Bosniaks, as well as Christians.
The Islamic community in Kosovo has eight regional canters: Prishtina/
Priština, Gnjilan, Mitrovica, Prizren, Peć, Uroševac, Preševo, and Đjakovica.
In Prishtina, the Islamic Community operates Alaudin Islamic school
Alaudin Medrese and, since 1992, also the Faculty of Islamic Theology. The
Mešihat of the Islamic Community in Kosovo publishes two monthly journals
in the Albanian language: Edukata Islama and Dituria Islame.
Dervish orders have been traditionally present in Kosovo, and there are
still nine active dervish orders in the region: Halvetiyya, Qadiriyya, Rufiyaa,
Saadiyya, Naqshbandiyya, Mevleviyya, Sinaniyya, and Bektashi order (Dérens
et al., 2006).
The Islamic Community in North Macedonia (Bashkësia Islame Në Republikën
Maqedonisë or Islamska Zaednica vo Republika Makedonija) was established
in 1994, and it is the most influential Islamic community in Macedonia. It
has a seat in Skopje with the Reis-ul-Ulema of Macedonia, Suleiman Rexhepi,
at its head.17
Muslims make up almost one-third of the entire population in Macedonia.
The ethnic structure of Macedonian Muslims is composed of Albanians, Turks,
Roma, Bosniaks, Torbeš, and Gornaci. Their religious life is organized around
local centers in Skopje, Tetovo, Gostivar, Kumanovo, Kičevo, Struga, Ohrid,
Štip, Bitola, Debar, Prilep, Resen, and Veles.
In Macedonia, there are six active Dervish orders: Halvetiyya, Qadiriyya,
Sinaniyya, Rufiyaa, Naqshbandiyya, and Malamiyya, as well as the de facto
but not de jure autonomously organized Bektashi order. The assembly of
the Dervish orders of Macedonia works under the auspices of the Islamic
Community of Macedonia.18 Sufi orders in Macedonia have their own organi-
zation, the Islamic Dervish Religious Community, established in 1992, which is
under the authority of the Shayh-ul-Ulema of the ic in North Macedonia.
17 For the statute of the Islamic Community in North Mazedonia see: http://licodu.cois
.it/?p=4363&lang=en.
18 Muslims of Macedonia (2000), Center for Documentation and Information on Minorities
in Europe—Southeast Europe (cedime-se), http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/english/
reports/CEDIME-Reports-Minorities-in-Macedonia.html.

18 Larise
The Bektashi order is settled within areas of Tetovo, Gostivar, Kičevo, Ohrid,
Struga, Bitola, and Resen. It comprises eight Bektashi tekke with the Baba in
Tetovo at its head (Barišić 2008).
Bektashi is a religious group whose contours are not firmly defined but rath-
er situated somewhere between a religious-confessional community and an
initiatory brotherhood. In the early 1970s Bektashi Brotherhood, along with
other Sufi Brotherhoods in Ex-Yugoslavia, managed to obtain a relative autono-
my from official Islamic Institutions in Yugoslavia. They were organized in two
Sufi organizations: zidra, which operated mainly in Kosovo and Macedonia
and Tarikatski Centar in B&H (Popović, 1986).
Following the example of the Albanian branch of the Brotherhood Bektashi
in North Macedonia also attempted to acquire the status of an independent
religious community. That angered the Islamic Community in Macedonia
since it undermined its claim to be a sole representative of all Muslims living
in North Macedonia. An additional issue was the struggle over the control of
the properties of the Bektashi Brotherhood in North Macedonia. The tensions
rose out of control in 2001 when the representatives of the Islamic Community
in Macedonia seized parts of the Bektashi Harbati Baba tekke in Tetovo with a
force of arms (Clayer, 2012).
Although the North Macedonian law favours more prominent religious
communities against the smaller ones, the struggle of the Bektashi community
for autonomy regarding the Islamic Community in Macedonia persists. The
Bektashi religious community and its supporters filed a complaint before the
European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, accusing the state authori-
ties of North Macedonia of deliberate obstruction of their registration as an
autonomous religious community (Georgievski, 2013).
The Islamic Community in Montenegro, with its seat in Podgorica, was es-
tablished in 1994. It comprises thirteen local Islamic communities in Podgorica,
Ulcinj, Bar, Plav, Ostroš, Dinoš, Tuza, Rožaje, Berane, Petnjica, Bijelo Polje,
Pljevlja, and Gusinje.
At its head is Rifat Fejzić, the Reis of Montenegro19, whose seat is in Podgorica.
According to the census of 2011, 118477 citizens of Monte Negro declared their
adherence to Islamic religion (out of a total of 631219).20 In the case of Monte
Negro, it could, however, be misleading to refer to all Montenegrin citizens
adhering to the Islamic religion as to “Muslims.” This conceptual confusion
19 For a historical analysis of the religious titles in the Islamic Communities in the succes-
sor states of the former Yugoslavia see: Karčić, 2016. I refered to that analysis in the first
chapter of this article.
20 Zavod za statistiku Republike Crne Gore (http://www.monstat.org/).

in Europe 10 (2020) 1-23
between “Muslim” written with a majuscule in the original language and which
designates a nation, versus “muslim” written with minuscule in the original
language, which designates the adherent of Islamic religion has to do with the
history of nation-building processes in former Yugoslavia.21 The census of 2011
offered various ethnic and national categories. The adherents of Islamic reli-
gion were predominantly distributed among following major national catego-
ries: Albanians (22267), Bosniaks (53453), Montenegrins (12758), Muslims (a
designation of nationality 20270) and Egyptians (2003).22
The Islamic Community in Montenegro operates a Medresa (Islamic school)
in Milješ, in the vicinity of Podgorica.
The Mešihat of the Islamic community in Montenegro issues a monthly
journal, Elif, in the Montenegrin and Albanese languages.
In their own words, “The Islamic Community in Montenegro is a unifying
Islamic Community consisting of all Muslim believers in Montenegro as well
as of all its Muslim citizens living abroad.”23
5 Conclusion
Islamic communities in the region of former Yugoslavia have undergone many

structural changes in the last hundred years. Since the issuing of the Islam
Act in 1912, they have lived through six different states, thereby changing their
inner structures and strategies of representation according to the exigencies
of these often, turbulent historical conjunctures. In some epochs, their institu-
tions and actors had considerable political influence, while in some others,
they were fighting for survival.
The idea to institutionalize Islamic affairs on national levels, which became
necessary in the process of the restructuring of the great historical empires
into nation-states, arose in West Balkans with the end of the Ottoman rule, and
it still remains a challenging task.
21 To the issues related to Muslim nation building in West Balkans see: Larise, Dunja, “The
Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina and nation building by Muslims/Bosniaks
in the Western Balkans”, Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity,
43:2 (2015), pp. 195-212.
22 http://www.monstat.org (Tabela CG1: Stanovništvo prema starosti odnosno nacionalnoj i
vjerskoj pripadnosti).
23 “Islamska zajednica u Republici Crnoj Gori je jedinstvena vjerska zajednica koju
sačinjavaju svi pripadnici islama u Republici Crnoj Gori, kao i njeni građani islam-
ske vjere koji borave u inostranstvu (Art. 1. Constitution 1994)”. Source: http://www
.monteislam.com/islamska-zajednica-u-crnoj-gori [Accessed: April, 10. 2020.].

20 Larise
We have seen that the structure of organized Islamic institutions estab-

lished in times of the Austrian Empire; the institutions of the Reis-ul-Ulema
and Rijaset, were able to survive until the present day, and they continue to
play a significant role in the organizational structures of the Islamic communi-
ties in the region.
In the same vein, the legal decrees of the Austrian Empire concerning the
institutionalization of the Islamic community in B&H still provide a source of
symbolic legitimacy for different, even rival institutional settings, as we have
seen in the examples of the Islamic communities in Bosnia, Slovenia, Croatia,
and Sandžak.
Finally, the legacy of the Islam Act is not merely visible in the structures
and hierarchies of the Islamic Communities in post-Yugoslavia, but also in the
idea of one community with one legal representation for Muslims living in
one country. This idea came to prominence during the wave of the nation-
and state-building projects in the last two decades, especially in the countries
emerging from the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. However, it is not
peculiar to that region only. It is an issue of importance also in Austria, which
has one official Islamic community. It is prone to similar challenges as some
Islamic Communities in Western Balkans presented above, coming from small-
er Islamic communities that claim their religious or institutional autonomy.
Consequently, the idea of a unified legal representation for all Muslims living
in one state remains contested terrain, not only in the Post-Yugoslav Islamic
context but also on the broader European level.
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Islamic Communities in Post-Yugoslav Countries

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Journal of Muslims in Europe 10 (2020) 1-23

Islamic Communities in Post-Yugoslav Countries

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/22117954-bja10013

1 In the Turkish language: Şeyhülislam.

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Austro-Hungarian Empire. It analyses both their historical and existing connec-

2 Short History of Islamic Communities in the Former Yugoslavia

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Port, thereby subsequently creating an Austrian Islamic community integrated

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Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an Austrian colonial legacy

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In 1938, Fehim Spaho (Mehemed Spaho’s brother) was appointed as the

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Authority of the Islamic Community of Montenegro (Starješinstvo Islamske za-

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3 One Islamic Community for Each Successor State?—The

The idea pronounced at the last meeting of the Islamic Community of

3.1 How Many Islamic Communities for Serbia?

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in Slovenia, Croatia, and B&H, the predominantly Albanian leadership of the

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settled abroad.”7 In this line of argument it was consequently possible to le-

7 Article 1. of the Constitution of ic in Bosnia and Herzegovina of 1993.

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According to the constitution, the Islamic community of Serbia comprised

10 “Islamska zajednica u Srbiji je jedna i jedinstvena tradicionalna vjerska zajednica musli-

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3.2 Who Decides over the Islamic Matters in Slovenia?

The history of the Islamic community in Slovenia and the awareness of

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Yugoslavia thanks to the Islamic community in B&H and Mešihats of the

4 Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Montenegro

Similar to the Islamic Communities in Slovenia and Sandžak, the Islamic

14 “Nemogoča je zgodovina Islamske skupnosti v Sloveniji in zavest o prisotnosti mus-

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The Islamic Community in Kosova/ Kosovo (Bashkësia Islame e Kosovës)

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Islamic communities in the region of former Yugoslavia have undergone many

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We have seen that the structure of organized Islamic institutions estab-

Amzi-Erdoğdular, Leyla, Afterlife of Empire: Muslim-Ottoman Relations in Habsburg

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Cerić, Mustafa. 2012. http://www.derislam.at/?c=vidgalerien&o=galerie.

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Mahmood, Saba, “Secularism, Hermeneutics, and Empire: The Politics of Islamic

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http://www.islamska-skupnost.si [Accessed on April, 3. 2020.]

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