Islam in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian era

Islam was first introduced to the Balkans on a large scale by the Ottomans in the mid-to-late 15th century who gained control of most of Bosnia in 1463, and seized Herzegovina in the 1480s. Over the next century, the Bosnians - composed of dualists and Slavic tribes living in the Bosnian kingdom under the name of Bošnjani - embraced Islam in great numbers under Ottoman rule. During the Ottoman era the name Bošnjanin was definitely transformed into the current Bošnjak ('Bosniak'), with the suffix "-ak" replacing the traditional "-anin". By the early 1600s, approximately two thirds of the population of Bosnia were Muslim. Bosnia and Herzegovina remained a province in the Ottoman Empire and gained autonomy after the Bosnian uprising in 1831. After the 1878 Congress of Berlin it came under the temporary control of Austria-Hungary. In 1908, Austria-Hungary formally annexed the region.

Bosnia, along with Albania, were the only parts of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans where large numbers of people were converted to Islam, and remained there after independence. In other areas of the former Ottoman Empire where Muslims formed the majority or started to form the majority, those Muslims were either expelled, assimilated/Christianized, massacred, or fled elsewhere (Muhajirs).

Bosnian war

The ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims during the Bosnian war caused a profound internal displacement of their population within Bosnia-Herzegovina, resulting in the almost complete segregation of the country's religious communities into separate ethno-religious areas. The rate of returning refugees was markedly slowed down by 2003-2004, leaving the majority of Serbian Orthodox adherents living in the Republika Srpska and the majority of Muslims and Catholics still living in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Within the Federation, distinct Muslim and Catholic majority areas remain. However, the return of Serbian Orthodox adherents and Muslims to their prewar homes in Western Bosnia Canton and Muslims to their prewar homes in eastern Bosnia near Srebrenica have shifted the ethno-religious composition in both areas.

Throughout Bosnia, mosques were systematically destroyed by Serb and Croat armed forces. Among the most important losses were two mosques in Banja Luka, Arnaudija and Ferhadija mosque, that were on the UNESCO register of world cultural monuments.

Destruction of Islamic religious buildings in Bosnia 1992-1995

Many religious buildings were destroyed in the war during the 90s and mosques were frequently rebuilt with the aid of funds from Saudi Arabia in exchange for saudi control which became the starting point of the wahhabist influence in Bosnia.

Increased religious identification

Religious leaders from the three major faiths claim that observance is increasing among younger persons as an expression of increased identification with their ethnic heritage, in large part due to the national religious revival that occurred as a result of the Bosnian war. Many Muslim women have adopted Islamic dress styles that had not been common, especially in cities, before the war, due to the wahhabism that came along with Saudi aid to rebuild the mosque and along with Gulf-trained imams mandated by the salafist influence, all-covering veils such as niqab and burqa have become more prevalent and the issue of polygamy was debated in parliament due to pressure from islamist groups. Leaders from the three main religious communities observed that they enjoy greater support from their believers in rural areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina rather than urban centres such as the capital Sarajevo or Banja Luka. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are eight Muftis located in major municipalities across the country: Sarajevo, Bihać, Travnik, Tuzla, Goražde, Zenica, Mostar, and Banja Luka. The acting head of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina is Husein Kavazović.

In a 1998 public opinion poll, 78.3% of Bosniaks in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared themselves to be religious.

Secularism

For a majority of Bosniaks that identify themselves as Bosnian Muslims, religion often serves as a community linkage, and religious practice is confined to occasional visits to the mosque or significant rites of passage such as birth, marriage, and death. Headscarves for women, or the hijab is worn only by a minority of Bosniak women, and otherwise mostly for religious obligations. Bosnians who participate in or are children of ethnically mixed marriages between the Bosniak, Serb and Croat populations in Bosnia and Herzegovina are often irreligious.

Status of religious freedom

The State Constitution provides freedom of religion, and individuals generally enjoy this right in ethnically mixed areas or in areas where they were adherents of the majority religion.

The government's census bureau today does not collect data on religious affiliation and the percentages given are the estimates in the U.N. Development Program's Human Development Report 2002 as quoted by the Bosnia and Herzegovina report.

Wahhabism

Historically, Bosnian Muslims has always practiced Islam which is entirely influenced by Sufism. Since Bosnian War, however, some remnants of groups of foreign fighters from Middle-east, fighting on the side of Bosnian Army, remained for some time and attempted to spread Wahhabism among locals. This created frictions between local Muslim population, steeped in traditional practice of their faith, and without any previous contact with this strain in Islam, and these newly formed communities. Although these communities were relatively small and restricted on just certain number of villages around central and northeren Bosnia, issue was highly politicized and also caused conflict within the Bosniak society itself. Also Saudi Arabia aided with rebuilding destroyed mosques on condition that they receive control over appointing imams promoting the wahhabism.