Message from Reis Kavazović: The meaning of Kurban is to bring us closer to one another

In his Bayram message on the occasion of the upcoming Kurban-Bayram, the Reis-l-ulema of the Islamic Community in BiH, Husein ef. Kavazović, said the following:

- We thank Him for blessings and gifts, for the mercy with which He showers us. Peace be upon His Prophet Muhammad and all his faithful followers.

Today is the day of Arafat, and in it, pilgrims from all parts of the world are concluding the rites of Hajj.

Today is a great day, a day of forgiveness that the Almighty bestows upon the sons and daughters of Adam.

This is an opportunity for all of us to meet ourselves and to receive that gift with an open heart and offer sincere repentance to the Almighty.

Tomorrow's Kurban-Bayram we will mark with prayer and sacrifice. Our mosques will be full of believers, and hearts full of sincere joy. Kurban is an opportunity to realize that our life's path also requires renunciation and sacrifice. Let us remember Ibrahim, peace be upon him, and his sons and their readiness to be obedient to the Lord of the worlds.

Also, let us remember other God's prophets (peace and salvation be upon them) and righteous people (awliya), our ancestors, who witnessed the faith with their lives and passed it on to us.

May that memory be a call to fulfill the obligations we have, and to solidarity among us. Like our good predecessors, we are solely responsible for our actions and our own destiny.

Our awareness of that responsibility determines how we will bear it and how strong we will be to manage ourselves and our destiny.

May Kurban-Bayram, just as its name suggests, remind us of the primordial endeavor to draw closer to Allah's mercy, but also to the brother and sister who need us.

The meaning of Kurban is to bring us closer to one another, to strengthen our family and the society in which we live.

We have that opportunity in the days ahead, and let us use it in the right way. That way, we will solve our problems more easily and walk the paths of our destiny more peacefully.

Therefore, I call on everyone in our homeland to work together in raising our families, educating our children, and preserving our unity.

Let us return the true values of morality, mutual respect and appreciation to our families.

Let us all strive to provide our children with a good upbringing and a good education, so that they too will tomorrow appreciate the values of community and life that we have inherited for centuries.

Brothers and sisters.

To all of you in our homeland Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and the diaspora, I wish happy and blessed Bayram days.

Let us spend them with family, relatives, friends and neighbors.

May the joy of Bayram fill our hearts and enter our families and homes.

Bayram sherif mubarek olsun!"