Young men with ISIL T-shirts burst into a mosque in Sarajevo, worshippers and imam expel them

A group of young men burst into a mosque in Sarajevo today during the Friday prayer (Jumu'ah) led by Muhamed ef. Velić, a prominent Sarajevo imam and publicist, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria.

The group that came to the sacred duty of Muslims performed on Fridays certainly intended to cause a scandal. One of them wore a T-shirt with the ISIL flag. The police confirmed that the ISIL supporter was, in fact, a drug addict, previously known to the police and who had already served a prison sentence.

When the imam began delivering the sermon (khutbah), one of them interrupted him. However, the other worshippers did not allow a major incident to occur and threw the hooligans out.

Ef. Velić told the Patria agency in an interview that he assumes these hooligans did not enter the mosque on their own initiative, and that it is very likely someone is behind them.

The Bosnian news agency Patria reports parts of a post by ef. Velić, which he published on his Facebook profile on Friday afternoon, describing what happened today during the Jumu'ah prayer he led:

- Today, three Kharijites, extremists, came to my Jumu'ah and barged into the mosque for the first time. They entered the mosque before the call to prayer (adhan) and stood right in front of me – wrote ef. Velić.

- Their appearance was immediately disturbing. Two had long hair and oiled beards, and all three had kohl on their eyes, as if going to war and battle. The leader, who commanded the group, stood first in front of me, took off his jacket, and then a long black T-shirt with the ISIL flag appeared! His hands were swollen (from drugs, the police later told me, because he had been imprisoned three times for drugs), and they did not take their eyes off me. It was a disturbing and threatening look. People were also disturbed.

I began to quote a hadith about good customs. I said that Allah's Messenger, peace be upon him, said whoever introduces a good custom in Islam will have a reward for it... And then that Kharijite shouted from below: YOU ARE LYING!!!

It was an unprecedented precedent and an unheard-of insult to the preacher (khatib) and a violation of the sermon! I immediately reacted by saying:

- You cannot speak like that here and now! This is Jumu'ah and the khutbah, and you must respect its sanctity! If you don't want to and if you don't like this, go out into the field! But you will not cause disorder and corruption here! Do you understand?!

At that, the people in the mosque jumped towards them, angry and provoked, shouting: Out, you gang! Get out, criminals! Half the mosque jumped towards them to confront them. I asked the mosque caretaker (mutevelija) and three other stronger congregation members to take them outside, but not just out of the mosque, but completely out of the courtyard (harema) so they wouldn't cause a bigger problem, and I asked the people not to touch them now, let them leave, but if they come next time, it won't be like this!

The three of them jumped up and quickly left, not even putting on their shoes properly, but the third one seemed strange to me, as if he was high on drugs. I saw evil and hatred in their eyes! These are dangerous people!

My congregation members took them all the way to the street, and the congregation in the mosque was agitated, because they had had enough. They were ready to beat them up, but I said not to touch them now.

We finished the Jumu'ah, and then after the Jumu'ah we stayed in the mosque for a long time. We agreed that we will now have our own congregation checks at the entrance to the mosque, especially during Jumu'ah. We will also install cameras in the mosque. Everything will be monitored.

Today danger was very close to us, hopefully not next time. People are ready to protect their imam, their mosque, and their congregation. Today I was proud of them, of my congregation members. They reacted like true lions.

Immediately after, the police from the MUP Center, cantonal and others arrived. The chief imam, the Sarajevo mufti, and the reisu-l-ulema were also informed.

The state will do its job, but the Islamic Community will also raise some issues that have been swept under the rug, wrote ef. Velić, as reported by NAP.