Reis Kavazović in Srebrenica: Bosnian Muslims and Jews must renew the vow of good neighbours, we are bound to each other!

(Patria) - The commemoration of the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust is underway at the Srebrenica Memorial Center.

Those present were addressed by the Reis-ul-Ulema of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Husein ef. Kavazović.

We bring the speech of Reis Kavazović in its entirety:

"Dear friends Rosensaft, Finci, Dear Mothers of Srebrenica, Your Excellencies and Eminences, Brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen.

Moses (peace be upon him) said 'shalom aleichem' in Hebrew. Jesus (peace be upon him) said 'shlama alaykhon' in Aramaic. Muhammad (peace be upon him) said 'assalamu alaikum', Peace be upon you.

Selam, peace, is the greeting and message of all God's prophets, and I greet you with this ancient greeting and sincerely thank you for the opportunity to meet with you. The occasion of our gathering today is painful, but with the intention of making a step towards a better future through our joint determination.
We have gathered on the day we mark the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust. We remember the six million innocent Jews who perished and millions of other victims of fascist and Nazi ideology. We do so at a place where humanity, half a century after the historic 'never again', once again failed and fell the test of responsibility.

I am pleased to see that the Srebrenica Memorial Center, the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Jewish Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina are together preserving the memory of the innocent victims of the Shoah. We are glad to do this with our friends from around the world, you who are present here. I sincerely thank everyone who helped organize this gathering, especially Director Suljagić and the staff of the Memorial Center, the Mothers of Srebrenica, and the hardworking staff of the Riyasat of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thank you to my friend Professor Rosensaft, who has indebted us all with his humane stance on the truth about the genocide in Srebrenica. Thank him for his determination that we continue together to advocate for truth, peace, and justice.

Commitment to remembering and commemorating the victims of past genocides, rejection of all forms of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other intolerances, resolute dedication to protecting life. Freedom of expression within the framework of respect, in a way that as friends we can tell each other what concerns us, our expectations, fears, and hopes, are principles that can guide Jews and Muslims in the world towards a better future. And not only them, because our today's Initiative for Peace and Remembrance is an invitation to everyone, especially our Orthodox and Catholic neighbours, to join us on this path. Particularly important to us are the principles of 'consistent and compassionate communication' and investing joint effort in times of crisis in a way that we commit to standing together, pooling our resources, knowledge, and strategies. That is why we rightly hope that our joint efforts will expand to crisis management, peace preservation, and reconstruction work, ensuring strong support and protection for our communities wherever and whenever a crisis occurs that threatens peace or threatens the repetition of genocide.
These principles are here for other religious leaders, academics, officials, and people who share our common endeavour to leave future generations a better world in which genocide committed in Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Srebrenica, Jasenovac, and all other places of horror will never be repeated.

I am especially glad that today with us are our friends from the Jewish Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the esteemed Mr. Finci. Bosnian Muslims, Bosniaks, and Bosnian Jews are one body. Our ties have been woven both in times of trial and in periods of prosperity and interaction, in which we learned from each other and helped each other in good times. But both our peoples have suffered and know what attempts to exterminate and destroy them mean. Likewise, both peoples have shown how hope in humanity is not lost despite the great evil we have been exposed to, in our distant but also recent past, and how one fights to survive. And today, when the evil of antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia is gaining momentum in our surroundings and across Europe and the world, we must renew our vow that we will continue to be good neighbours and watch over each other, as we have done in the past.

For I often remember the words of our great poet Musa Ćazim Ćatić, who said: We will survive, because our standards are different and our feelings deeper and warmer, because we are not afraid of others, nor of those who are different, nor of those who are better, because we warm ourselves with ourselves.

Dear friends,

In a time of unprecedented suffering in the Holy Land, this our meeting and call for peace is all the more significant. In the days following the escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine on October 7, Mr. Finci and I sat down and issued a joint message condemning the violence and the need to stop the wave of terror and violence against innocent civilians.

The Assembly of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, at its last session, adopted the Declaration on Peace in the Holy Land and the Rights of the Palestinian People, in which it calls on all international actors, Muslim leaders, and religious authorities of all religions to resolutely engage in order to stop the spiral of violence in the Holy Land and so that peace may prevail, not only between Palestine and Israel, but also among the spiritual followers of the forefather prophet of monotheism, Ibrahim (peace be upon him)/Abraham. The same declaration most strongly condemns attacks on civilians in the Gaza area and the taking of civilians as hostages, and calls for their release, as well as the release of thousands of illegally detained persons, especially women and children.

'Resistance to occupation cannot be a justification for committing crimes, just as invoking the fight against terrorism cannot be a justification for killing civilians and collective punishment. Every crime should be subject to independent investigations and judicial processes,' states the declaration of the highest legislative body of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We, gathered today near the cemetery of the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica, who ourselves have survived the Holocaust and genocide or are their descendants, have the right and obligation to be witnesses of truth and justice, shuhada' bil-qist.

'O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, Allah is more worthy of both. So follow not [personal] inclination, lest you not be just. And if you distort [your testimony] or refuse [to give it], then indeed Allah is ever, with what you do, Acquainted,' is the Quranic message in Surah An-Nisa, verse 135.

Humankind must permanently remember the Holocaust - that horrific fruit of the darkened human mind - so that new generations do not forget the time when fascism dominated over humanity. Preserving the truth about the genocide in Srebrenica is the best guarantee of a happier future for all people, especially in these our regions. Raising one's voice against evil and the suffering of innocents, regardless of their origin, faith, nation, or place of suffering, is the duty of all, especially those who themselves have survived the same horrors.

Evil must always be dealt with strictly. It must not be given space to run rampant; it must be restrained and contained. Otherwise, it will grow stronger and call into question every good. There is no multiple truth about what happened in the past; there is only one truth. There are only those who would hide the truth, and these are, unfortunately, those who are ready to repeat not only the mistakes of the past but also the crimes that are an eternal stain on the conscience of humanity.

In the hope that the principles of communication that Professor Rosensaft and I will announce today will be signed by numerous other people of good will and that they will be our modest contribution to building peace and better understanding among the followers of the Book and the sons of Adam and Eve, I sincerely greet you," said the Reis-ul-Ulema of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Husein ef. Kavazović, during his address at the Srebrenica Memorial Center.