Muftija Grabus at the UN: Thousands of Worlds Were Killed in Srebrenica

(Patria) - Sarajevo Mufti Prof. Dr. Nedžad-ef. Grabus attended today the first official high-level commemoration at the United Nations in New York, dedicated to marking the 29th anniversary of the genocide against Bosniaks in Srebrenica in 1995.

The commemoration was held in the plenary hall of the UN General Assembly and was the first following the adoption of the Resolution on the Srebrenica Genocide on 23 May this year, i.e., the proclamation of 11 July as the "International Day of Remembrance and Commemoration of the Srebrenica Genocide of 1995".

We convey the address of Mufti Grabus in its entirety:

"Your Excellency, President of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly, Excellencies, Ambassadors, esteemed guests, families of the genocide victims and survivors, ladies and gentlemen!
Peace be upon you all. As-salamu alaykum!

Thank you all for your participation today at the 'International Day of Remembrance and Commemoration of the Srebrenica Genocide of 1995', thereby preserving memory and paying tribute to the victims of the Srebrenica genocide. Allow me to express special gratitude to the Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the UN, Zlatko Lagumdžija, and his team for the effort and hard work invested in the process of preparing and adopting the Resolution, as well as for organizing today's program.

Sincere thanks and may God bless you.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, over the centuries, symbolically speaking, the minarets of mosques, the spires of Catholic and Orthodox churches, and Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish synagogues have touched. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina is like a patterned rug with its Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Jewish components.

The Bosnian spirit is cosmopolitan; in Bosnia and Herzegovina, no one feels cramped and there is room for all its citizens. That strength of spirit and togetherness preserved all religious buildings during the siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to early 1996, and because of that strength, no revanchism or revenge was succumbed to.

Sarajevo is one of the world's symbols of the togetherness of different religious identities and a meeting point of different cultures - and not only through sacred buildings but also through the living faith of communities that, intertwined, live in peace, each in its own identity.

During the late 1990s, the situation in Srebrenica was very difficult for the survivors of the Srebrenica genocide. Among the first returnees to Srebrenica were imams, spiritual leaders, young men who had just left university lecture halls.

Imams Damir Peštalić in Srebrenica, Elvir Hodžić in Bratunac, and many others became symbols of hope, strength, and comfort for mothers and fathers whose sons were brutally killed, as well as for brothers, sisters, and relatives.



The Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Grand Mufti Dr. Husein Kavazović stood firmly by all survivors in Srebrenica and for years have been making maximum efforts to preserve peace and the dignity of the surviving victims of the genocide, calling for respect for human dignity and the inviolability of life, honor, faith, and property of all people in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Srebrenica warns us and reminds us how terrible violence devastates the ethical dimensions that safeguard human dignity. In Srebrenica, the golden rule - the commandment against unjustified killing - was violated, and thus thousands of worlds were killed.

One person is one world. In ethical monotheism in the Old and New Testaments, and in the Qur'an, every person is a world unto themselves.

In the Holy Book, the Noble Qur'an, we read: 'Whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land - it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one - it is as if he had saved mankind entirely.' (Al-Ma'idah, 32)

In the well-known example of fratricide, which the Bible and the Qur'an speak of, committed by Cain against his brother Abel, we have a strong message that the killer and the innocent killed person are not the same. This ethical message is often relativized in the case of the Srebrenica genocide – from denial to spreading untruths about the victims of the genocide.

That is why the action of the international community and local actors is important to prevent the denial and negation of the crime of genocide in Srebrenica, as this leads to new crimes.

The best example of morality and ethics are the Mothers of Srebrenica, whose children were brutally killed, but they always called for peace, coexistence, and respect for human rights.

The Mothers of Srebrenica are the moral backbone of Bosnian society; with the strength of their faith in the victory of good, they were, and still are, an inspiration to us in the difficult confrontations with the consequences of the Srebrenica genocide. Based on ethical monotheism, we know that evil and good are not and cannot be the same.

From the Mothers of Srebrenica, one can always hear a call for peace, respect for diversity, but also a constant warning that evil must not prevail. We call on all religious leaders to oppose evil and work towards establishing brotherly relations among people, especially to oppose false narratives and the spread of untruths about the impossibility of living in peace with people of different ethnic and religious identities.

As people of faith, we must oppose hatred, intolerance, inaction against evil, and injustice - because they lead to dangerous consequences and human suffering. Everything else leads us into a moral abyss. That is why we constantly call for peace.

O my God, You are Peace and from You is peace!

Allow me to conclude this speech with a prayer for the martyrs of the Srebrenica genocide, as well as for all oppressed innocent people in the world. May Almighty God grant mercy to their souls, and may the memory of them be a constant inspiration to build a better world than the one in which they lived.

Thank you for your attention and commitment to this issue. I invite you to pay tribute to the victims of the Srebrenica genocide with a prayer, supplication, or a minute of silence.
May God's mercy be upon them all. Thank you!".