Kavazović: If we are a people, and we are, then we are Bosniaks, not Sandžaklije, Krajišnici, Podrinjci...

(Patria) - At the Islamic Cultural Center of Bosniaks in Berlin, the Grand Mufti of the Islamic Community (IC) in BiH, Husein ef. Kavazović, led the Friday prayer, and in his sermon he said that we live in a family and community with brothers and sisters.

“We are dependent on each other and without mutual understanding and cooperation we cannot ensure a tolerant life, progress and survival. In the family and community, problems are solved through conversation and agreement, not through stubbornness and force. We must overlook many of the actions and behaviors of our loved ones, just as Allah overlooks our sins.

Times change, and so do the conditions of our life, survival and progress. Families and communities are divided, displaced and distanced. What still keeps them together is the awareness of a shared belonging to faith, origin, language, culture and tradition. The congregation is the most important foundation of our togetherness, brotherhood and national feeling. It is the homeland of our religious tradition and national feeling, just as the heart is the home of faith, even when we are far from our homeland,” said Kavazović and added:

“This is an important congregation; one of the most important outside our Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore, your responsibility as its members is greater. Because those who are the most important, the strongest and the most developed have a greater responsibility for the path of the community.

Behind you is a path that was not always easy to tread. You have traversed it with great trials and great sacrifices. Faith in God, patient planning and demonstrated effort have brought you to where you are today.

We are proud of you, and you should be satisfied and grateful to God for what has been achieved. You know best how much sweat you have shed to get here. And how much more is needed to overcome the new challenges ahead of you. I hope that this will be with God’s help.

But it would be devastating if you were less prepared for challenges today. I expect from you, and our community in Bosnia and Western Europe also expects, that you carry your burden, but also help others, that you be protectors of the unity of our people and our Islamic Community. We have our Community, our homeland Bosnia and Herzegovina, our families and each other.
Among us there are also those who look only at the part that belongs to the whole, but not at the whole. They think that local identities are the most important. However, if we are a community, and we are, then we are Muslims, not any Salafis or Hanafis; if we are a people, and we are, then we are Bosniaks, not Sandžaklije, Krajišnici, Podrinjci and Herzegovinians,” said Kavazović.