Musa: We closed the first parallel jamaat in 1996

Professor of Islamic Sciences, Muderis Sanin Musa, was a guest on the show Pressing on N1. As he stated, he was one of the organizers of the first parallel jamaat in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as its closure and return to the Islamic Community, reports the Patria News Agency.

Today marks the deadline that the Islamic Community in BiH gave to parallel jamaats to integrate into official institutions. However, as things stand, this will not happen and this process will be difficult.

"I believe in a positive outcome for everything. I believe that the vast majority of so-called parallel jamaats will understand the need for unity of Bosniaks and Muslims in these areas, heed the call, and integrate into the system of the Islamic Community. The question arises as to what this integration offers and what it will look like then," Musa wonders.

From today, parallel jamaats cease to be the concern of the Islamic Community and become the concern of the state. Can repressive measures have an undesirable effect?

"I hope that force will not be the language spoken here. Force has never yielded extraordinary results anywhere, and I don't think it will be used here. I hope it doesn't come to that because it is not the way, method, or means," he added.

"In 1996, we had the first parallel jamaat at the Faculty of Civil Engineering. I delivered my first sermons there. However, how did we close that parallel jamaat? Not on the initiative of the Islamic Community or the police, but we came to a spiritual realization where we understood that those sermons and everything we were doing would not be accepted by Allah. We said: we will close it and return to the mosques. That was in 1996. I am absolutely now the one calling on the so-called parallel jamaats and their representatives to understand the need for unity within the Islamic Community, i.e., Muslims in these areas," Musa said.

Are today's parallel jamaats a cause of division?

"Obviously, they are. It is evident that a certain ideology is promoted in those jamaats, the ideology of takfir, which declares Muslims infidels for trivial reasons. If takfirism is promoted in those mosques, and that is again the basis for the emergence of ISIL, I am absolutely for closing those jamaats and calling on those people to return to the framework of the Quran. The Islamic Community is our goal, but what does it offer then? How will it integrate those people? In 1996 and 1997, for us young men eager for faith, such a presentation of Islam and phenomenon suited us extraordinarily, and I accepted it. I was excellent dough in the hands of a baker, but my Lord later gave me knowledge and wisdom," Musa said.

"By closing parallel jamaats without offering an alternative to those people, we will not solve the problem. I was in the Active Islamic Youth, which gathered the so-called Salafi movement. Back then, we were called Wahhabis and so on. It was a para-structure that wanted to work for Islam, but with its own interpretation of Islam, unlike what the Islamic Community promoted.

The differences were not that significant. When I saw that all of that was turning into another Islamic community in 2000 and 2001, I said, excuse me, but the one that has been here since 1882 is dearer to me. Then I sincerely started to join the Islamic Community and continue my work and activities on Allah's path, to manifest everything that my Lord has revealed to me. I must say that my doors were closed in 2000 and 2001," Musa said.

He says he did not like the term "Wahhabi".

"I didn't like using that term, I didn't like being called that. I respect every Muslim and person who says they don't like that term. If Wahhabism is considered a long beard, short pants, and a different way of performing prayer compared to most Muslims in these areas, then I was a Wahhabi.

If we look at what we advocate for today, what path we are following, what we want, we call on the Islamic Community and praise it, we call for obedience to the head of the Islamic Community, we cannot talk about Wahhabism. If radicals resent me, it won't be the first or the last time. The issue is that people from the Islamic Community resent me. I hope this show will open some new doors. Allah accepts repentance, but some people and structures do not," Musa added.

"I think information is all around us. It is impossible to control it. We have a lot of young people who are searching for faith. Youth likes a certain form of practicing Islam. We must say that youth is the bearer of what we are talking about, parallel jamaats and suicide attacks," Musa added.