SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) - Bosnian Muslims celebrate 600 years of Islam in their nation Saturday with a concert of spiritual music, a prayer for peace, and a gentle reminder to Europe: not all of the continent's Muslims are of immigrant origin.
"Recently we have noticed that Europe is obsessed by the immigrant Muslims from the East,'' said Mustafa Ceric, head of the Bosnia Islamic Community, the official institution of Bosnia's Muslims. "This is an opportunity to remind that there are indigenous Muslims in Europe.''
"By celebrating 600 years of Islam here we want to naturalize Islam in Europe,'' he said, adding that Bosnia's Muslims have illustrated how Islam can be harmonized with a European way of life.
Sarajevo is a good place to send a message of peace, since the last century started and ended with a with a war in Sarajevo, Ceric said.
The 1914 assassination in Sarajevo of the crown prince of the Austro-Hungarian empire triggered World War I. And genocide was carried out on Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.
Islam arrived in Bosnia with the Ottoman occupation in 1463 and found the local population split between Roman Catholicism, a dying indigenous Bosnian Church, and Christian Orthodoxy.
Islam spread over the next 400 years of Ottoman rule, mostly thanks to tax cuts and other benefits given to those who converted. It remains the faith of almost half of Bosnia's population.
The Bosnia Islamic Community is now seeking to impose itself as a model for several million European Muslims who have no organized authority to guide them.
It believes that a lack of organized structure for Europe's Muslims leaves them at the mercy of sometimes dubious imams who often preach radicalization.
"We live in a global world so we Muslims should be aware that global security is our interest,'' Ceric said.
Ceric said that while he understood complaints by Muslims about being rejected in Europe, Muslims also need to make efforts to fit in.
"Europe is not yet ready to accept Muslims the way they deserve but unfortunately, the Muslims are also not living up to their responsibilities in Europe,'' he said. "I think the Muslims are highlighting their presence in Europe in the wrong way.''
That's why the Bosnia Islamic Community has been campaigning for the establishment of a Europe-wide organization for Muslims that would control what is being taught in Islamic schools and mosques.
"I think we Muslims have no choice but to work for our presence in Europe and to show that we are ready to accept the values of human rights, democracy, transparency, accountability, the rule of law and all those values that are also Islamic values,'' he said.-AP
Re: Bosnian Muslims mark 600 years of Islam in Bosnia
After all thats happend to our Brothers and Sisters in Bosnia, i hope they can build on this and make Islam in Bosnia a much stronger influence. Inshallah.
Our preperation continued, with our efforts and the efforts of our brothers, for years and years. Through out that time we gathered, observed and waited until the moment to move arrived.
Re: Bosnian Muslims mark 600 years of Islam in Bosnia
format_quote Originally Posted by jzcasejz
As-Salaamu'alaikum
Alhamdulillaah. Really good to hear.
Man, I would love to see the anniversary of Christianity arriving in Saudi Arabia celebrated. That would be some fun. I would think it has been there for ~ 1,900 years or so.
Re: Bosnian Muslims mark 600 years of Islam in Bosnia
format_quote Originally Posted by ACC
Man, I would love to see the anniversary of Christianity arriving in Saudi Arabia celebrated. That would be some fun. I would think it has been there for ~ 1,900 years or so.
erm ur twisting the article, incase you dont know erm majority of bosnia became muslim, i didnt see saudia abandon Islam for christianity as a whole the bosnians are celebrating because when Islam came it changed them and they became Muslims and are proud of it.
Re: Bosnian Muslims mark 600 years of Islam in Bosnia
format_quote Originally Posted by ACC
Man, I would love to see the anniversary of Christianity arriving in Saudi Arabia celebrated. That would be some fun. I would think it has been there for ~ 1,900 years or so.
I think Judaism arrived earlier than Christianity in Saudi Arabia.
Re: Bosnian Muslims mark 600 years of Islam in Bosnia
format_quote Originally Posted by north_malaysian
wow... i think Islam came to Bosnia at the same time it arrived in Malaysia too..
Wow, really? I thought Islam reached Bosnia in the early days, around 800-900ad. I thought Islam reached Subsaharan Africa and Pacific Asia at the same time; say 900ad to 1100ad.
Hm...
"This world is a blank price tag, and whatever value you put on it, is what its worth to you. I have made this world priceless and worthless, so therefore I have placed my value in the afterlife."
Re: Bosnian Muslims mark 600 years of Islam in Bosnia
format_quote Originally Posted by Dahir
Wow, really? I thought Islam reached Bosnia in the early days, around 800-900ad. I thought Islam reached Subsaharan Africa and Pacific Asia at the same time; say 900ad to 1100ad.
Hm...
Islam came to Malaysia in early 1300s, but only managed to be the largest religion here in the 1400s.
The Chinese accepted Islam much earlier than Malaysians...
25:36 And the true servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk the earth with humility and when the ignorant address them, they respond with words of peace.
Re: Bosnian Muslims mark 600 years of Islam in Bosnia
format_quote Originally Posted by north_malaysian
whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa sis... you really OPENED UP my eyes!!!!!
Islam came to the Malay world when Prophet Muhammad was still alive!!!!! This is SHOCKING!!!! Seriously I dont know about it!!!!:blind:
yeah and they have all the proofs
25:36 And the true servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk the earth with humility and when the ignorant address them, they respond with words of peace.
Re: Bosnian Muslims mark 600 years of Islam in Bosnia
format_quote Originally Posted by syilla
yeah and they have all the proofs
And how many Malaysians knew about it? Just both of us?
I am reading that website.. and there are LOTS of shocking stories like GW Bush were born in the 18th Century and the Israelis are planting the trees that Prophet Muhammad mentioned in one of his hadith....
Re: Bosnian Muslims mark 600 years of Islam in Bosnia
Yeah as far as I know, Malaysia and the Far East were introduced to Islam at the time of the prophet (pbuh), whereas what is now Bosnia was introduced to it through the Ottomans (although I don't really approve of all they did).
Aaaanyways, just so everyone doesn't get overly "yippee-yay" about Bosnian Muslims, I advise people to read about what Islam is really like over there before concluding that it's really great over there and all. I was there last summer and I was less than impressed, to put it mildly. Sure there were some really good brothers and sisters, and I mean really well behaved, following the sunnah and everything, but I saw the vast majority of the population as quite lost. In fact, I don't think that more that 20-30% of the Muslims there fast on Ramadan!
As for the "Grand Mufti" Mustafa Ceric, let's just say that most of the things I've heard about him were not that great. Not only that, but the very organization that runs the Islamic projects over there is probably the most negative influential thing I've ever seen -- they even collect money from common people for their services!
Personally, the only real hope I see for Bosnians is for Muslims from the Middle East to come and clean up some of that mess. The mujahideen that came to fight during the war were doing that to an extent...but then the government banished them.
Things are not right over there. May Allah guide them.
Re: Bosnian Muslims mark 600 years of Islam in Bosnia
format_quote Originally Posted by Skywalker
Yeah as far as I know, Malaysia and the Far East were introduced to Islam at the time of the prophet (pbuh), whereas what is now Bosnia was introduced to it through the Ottomans (although I don't really approve of all they did).
From the Indonesian articles that syilla posted... it's said that 15 years after Prophet Muhammad received the first revelation from Allah, the Arab Muslims established a village in the island of Sumatra.... those articles even claimed that the Pharaohs were embalmed with some spices originated from the Malay world...
And these facts are unknown to Malaysians, the government need to revise the school textbooks.
Re: Bosnian Muslims mark 600 years of Islam in Bosnia
format_quote Originally Posted by Skywalker
Aaaanyways, just so everyone doesn't get overly "yippee-yay" about Bosnian Muslims, I advise people to read about what Islam is really like over there before concluding that it's really great over there and all. I was there last summer and I was less than impressed, to put it mildly. Sure there were some really good brothers and sisters, and I mean really well behaved, following the sunnah and everything, but I saw the vast majority of the population as quite lost. In fact, I don't think that more that 20-30% of the Muslims there fast on Ramadan!
As for the "Grand Mufti" Mustafa Ceric, let's just say that most of the things I've heard about him were not that great. Not only that, but the very organization that runs the Islamic projects over there is probably the most negative influential thing I've ever seen -- they even collect money from common people for their services!
Personally, the only real hope I see for Bosnians is for Muslims from the Middle East to come and clean up some of that mess. The mujahideen that came to fight during the war were doing that to an extent...but then the government banished them.
Things are not right over there. May Allah guide them.
Things are not right everywhere........
Not only in Bosnia, I believe our Muslim brethrens in Albania, Kosova, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Central Asia and Russia are having the same problems too... but at least they have one defence..... they were ruled by communists for decades....
but how about Muslims in Malaysia, Indonesia and Turkey... they are not ruled by communists but still there are lots of non-practicing Muslims (well.... not as high as those in ex-communist states, but still in worrying level)
I've seen lots of Malaysian Muslims who dont observe Ramadhan, and those who dont observe the 5 daily prayers is like hundred times more than those who dont observe Ramadhan. It's kinda "usual" to know a Malaysian that observing the Ramadhan but failed to perform 5 daily prayers.....
Re: Bosnian Muslims mark 600 years of Islam in Bosnia
format_quote Originally Posted by north_malaysian
And these facts are unknown to Malaysians, the government need to revise the school textbooks.
Actually...not just that, the date when parameswara came to Malaysia is also wrong...i think there are alot more that is wrong in the textbook.
25:36 And the true servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk the earth with humility and when the ignorant address them, they respond with words of peace.
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Re: Bosnian Muslims mark 600 years of Islam in Bosnia
the bosnians are celebrating because when Islam came it changed them and they became Muslims and are proud of it.
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