Islamic Community of Serbia

The Islamic Community of Serbia ( Serbian - Cyrillic Исламска заједница Србије , Islamska zajednica Srbije - IZS), headquartered in Belgrade, is one of the two organizations of Muslim believers in Serbia. The other is the Islamic Community in Serbia (IZuS). It was founded in 2007.

construction

It is divided into three meschihats (councils): Serbia (responsible for the main part of central Serbia and the autonomous province of Vojvodina , seat Belgrade ), Sandžak (responsible for the Sandžak region , seat Novi Pazar ) and Preševo (responsible for the southern Serbian communities bordering Kosovo Preševo , Bujanovac and Medveđa , seat Preševo). The central body that coordinates the three meschihats is the Rijaset of the Islamic Community of Serbia. Its head is Reis-ul-ulema (Grand Mufti) Adem Zilkić . The main mosque in Belgrade is the historic Bajrakli Mosque from 1575.

The Grand Mufti is not recognized by all Serbian Muslims as the highest authority; instead, a large part of the population belongs to the Islamic Community in Serbia (IzuS; "Islamska zajednica u Srbiji") under the leadership of Mevlud Dudić .

history

When, according to the Law on Churches and Religious Communities of 2006, a body was to be formed at the national level for each of the seven recognized religions in Serbia, the Islamic Community in Serbia ( Islamska zajednica u Srbiji ) first registered. A little later, in October 2007, however, the Islamic Community of Serbia (Islamska zajednica Srbije) was formed as an alternative . This was mainly based on personal and political conflicts. The establishment of the IZS was largely driven by the longtime Mufti of Belgrade, Hamdija Jusufspahić , and his two sons, who are also imams , because they refused to run the IzuS. She was supported by the Bosniak nationalist politician Sulejman Ugljanin , leader of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) of Sandžak. Even if Adem Zilkić is formally in the highest position in the IZS, Muhamed Jusufspahić is in fact considered to be the driving force behind the association.

A dividing issue between the rival organizations is the relationship with the Islamic community of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The IzuS wants the Islamic community in Sandžak (where most Muslims identify themselves as Bosniaks ) to be closely linked to Sarajevo and that in Preševo (where most Muslims are ethnic Albanians) to Kosovo , while the IZS keeps these communities under purely Serbian control want. Both associations deny the legitimacy and legality of the other and have even fought violent clashes.

The Serbian Ministry of Religions recognizes both communities, but the IZS lacks recognition from the neighboring Islamic communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina , Montenegro , Kosovo and North Macedonia . It controls fewer mosques and Islamic organizations in the country, is less active and less organized than its rival.

literature

Ahmet Alibašić : Serbia, in: Yearbook of the Muslims in Europe, Vol. 4, Brill 2012 ( bosanskialim.com ; PDF; 476 kB)
Jacek Duda: Islamic community in Serbia - the Sandžak case. In: Muslims in Poland and Eastern Europe. Widening the European Discourse on Islam. Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw, 2011. ( Online (PDF; 62 kB) - orient.uw.edu.pl)
Aleksander Zdravkovski: Islam and Politics in the Serbian Sandžak. Institutionalization and Feuds. In Sabrina Ramet: Religion and Politics in Post-Socialist Central and Southeastern Europe Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke (Hampshire) / New York 2014, pp. 212–239.

Web links

References and footnotes

↑ ^a ^b berkleycenter.georgetown.edu: Islamic Community of Serbia ( Memento of the original from July 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , In: Resources on Faith, Ethics and Public Life. Berkley Center, Georgetown University. @1@ 2

^ Alibašić: Serbia. In: Yearbook of the Muslims in Europe. 2012, p. 460.

^ ^A ^b Alibašić: Serbia. In: Yearbook of the Muslims in Europe. 2012, pp. 460-461.

[Georgetown-1] rkleycenter.georgetown.edu: Islamic Community of Serbia ( Memento of the original from July 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , In: Resources on Faith, Ethics and Public Life. Berkley Center, Georgetown University. @1@ 2

[Alibasic460-2] Alibašić: Serbia. In: Yearbook of the Muslims in Europe. 2012, p. 460.

[Alibasic4601-3] A ^b Alibašić: Serbia. In: Yearbook of the Muslims in Europe. 2012, pp. 460-461.