CRITICISM Authorities in BiH allowed registration of para-jamaats, now ask the Islamic Community to correct that mistake

Ministries of Justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina allowed the registration of jamaats that do not operate within the Islamic Community. However, they now ask the Islamic Community to shut down these para-jamaats, as many of them pose a threat to the security system of BiH.

Deputy Reis-ul-Ulema Husein ef. Smajić told Oslobođenje that the state violated the Law on Freedom of Religion and Religious Communities by allowing the registration of jamaats without the consent of the Islamic Community. Ef. Smajić explains that the legal obligation of the courts was that anyone dealing with Islam and Islamic rules, interpretations, and leading jamaats must seek the consent of the Islamic Community during registration.

- The judges who registered associations that will deal with Islam, preserving Islam, the right to Islamic affiliation, and free practice of Islam had to first seek our consent to see if such individuals practice Islam according to the Maturidi and Hanafi schools of thought, and they did not. Thus, many jamaats were established over which we have no responsibility or oversight. The area of Zenica is flooded with them, as well as the areas of the Travnik and Bihać muftiships - said ef. Smajić.

The Council of Muftis, i.e., the Reis-ul-Ulema of the Islamic Community in BiH Husein ef. Kavazović, has obligated all chief imams in BiH to conduct talks with the organizers and leaders of para-jamaats in the country by the end of January 2016.
Imams should point out the harmfulness of the activities of these para-jamaats and demand from their leaders to immediately, and no later than the end of February 2016, cease holding and organizing religious activities in the facilities they use as masjids, which do not have an operating permit from the competent body of the Islamic Community in BiH, and invite them to join the work and activities of the jamaats of the Islamic Community.

Those who do not comply with the call of the Islamic Community after a certain period, ef. Smajić says they will no longer be a problem of the Islamic Community, but a problem of the state, writes Oslobođenje, reports the news agency Patria.