Grand Mufti Kavazović: Commitment to universal values is a guarantee that our resistance to all that is wrong will be strong

(Patria) - Our commitment to the universal values of Islam and Bosnian-Herzegovinian society is a great
guarantee that our resistance to all that is wrong will be strong and that our society will recover more quickly and move from the phase of illness to the phase of recovery - said today the Grand Mufti of the Islamic Community (IZ) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Husein-ef. Kavazović.

Grand Mufti Kavazović is attending the ceremonial academy marking the 111th anniversary of the Ilmijja Association, which brings together imams, muallims, employees of the Islamic Community, as well as religious teachers, muderrises and professors of Islamic faculties, where he addressed the gathering.

"Today we are proud and joyful to mark the 111th anniversary of the founding of Ilmijja. Its founders perhaps did not envision in their visions the happy possibility that the guild association of learned people among us would last this long. However, despite countless trials, setbacks and attacks, it has survived to this day,"
said the Grand Mufti.

The Association has passed various historical tests, difficult phases, it has been honed, strengthened and gained its own resilience, added the Grand Mufti, emphasizing that "today it is a strong, organized association and has a recognizable role in the overall activities of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina."

"The voice of the Association is heard and respected, and its members are respected and enjoy wide acceptance in society. Our celebration today confirms this nicely," said Grand Mufti Kavazović, among other things.

He recalled that as circumstances and historical conditions changed, the Ilmijja Association also adapted its activities.

"It is known that the circumstances in our country, after the aggression, changed and that our Community was renewed and modernized; it gained an administrative hierarchy through which it realizes practically all its activities and mostly successfully achieves its goals. However, what has not changed significantly is the status of imams in the Community. I must admit myself that I have many doubts about this status. The issue is complex. The Rulebook on Service in the Islamic Community in BiH, which is in draft form, should offer certain steps forward," stated the Grand Mufti.
As he said, in the coming period he will dedicate himself to this issue and its quality resolution.

"We want to achieve that imams are adequately valued, and their working hours better organized, so that they can focus on the essential in their work: raising religious awareness among children, youth and adults and their proper education. This is a great obligation, a responsible task and requires dedication, patience and
skill; it requires innovation and freshness. For that, one needs conditions and time for preparation and to be relieved of some other obligations," said the Grand Mufti.

He also called on those in the structures of the Association to contribute to resolving the issue of the status of imams.

"Your proposals will be valuable to us and, I believe, decisive, because they will come from the very center of reality and from people who have the best insight into that reality. Let that consideration be thorough, so that we make the call of the imam attractive and appealing, and the overall work of the Community more efficient and better," emphasized Grand Mufti Kavazović.

He assessed that "our society is damaged both in breadth and depth and that it is attacked by various internal diseases and pretensions, threatening to destroy it."

"It is imperative to oppose this. The active position of the imam is, in this regard, of crucial importance. Because the imam helps in the upbringing of people, morally strengthens them, kindles hope in them and raises awareness that they should engage and give their own positive contribution to building society. This is a noble task, in line with that of the Prophet. So, let us go towards it, may Allah help us," said Grand Mufti Husein-ef. Kavazović.