Rijaset IZ in BiH: No compromise on the name of the Bosnian language

Under the chairmanship of Reis-ul-ulema Husein ef. Kavazović, the 12th regular session of the Rijaset of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina was held in Sarajevo today, reports the BiH news agency Patria.

The Rijaset session was attended by Rijaset members: Deputy Reis-ul-ulema Husein ef. Smajić, Director of the Administration for Education and Science Dr. Enes ef. Karić, Director of the Administration for Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Razim ef. Čolić, Director of the Administration for Administrative and Legal Affairs Ismail ef. Smajlović, and Director of the Administration for Economic and Financial Affairs Zejnil ef. Rebihić. The session was also attended by Head of the Reis-ul-ulema's Office Rifat Fetić, Secretary of the Rijaset Mensur ef. Karadža, Heads of Offices: for Zakat Mr. Elnur ef. Salihović, for Social Welfare Hamed ef. Efendić, and Director of the Vakuf Directorate Dr. Senaid ef. Zajimović.

Considerable attention in the discussion was paid to the status of the Bosnian language in RS, regarding which a press release from the Rijaset of the Islamic Community in BiH was issued from the session. MINA publishes the full text of the press release:

- For decades, unfortunately, we have witnessed how one of the primary tasks of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, based in Belgrade, and its nationalist academicians is the preservation and promotion of Greater Serbian hegemonic policy in the Balkans. We experienced this most painfully during the aggression against the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the nineties of the last century and the genocide against the Bosniak people. Therefore, the latest ideologically designed stories about the Bosnian language only fit into that long-standing nationalist mosaic of shameless and insulting dishonor under the guise of so-called science. We are not aware of any other nation or society in the world being denied the right to its own language, its own linguistic tradition, its historical memory, culture, national identity, as is denied to the Bosniak people by SASA and nationalist academicians, in the name of the Serbian people.

In normal times, such statements would be more a cause for regret, disgust, and ignorance, but knowing that fascism and fascistic tendencies are closely intertwined with so-called democratization processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Balkans, there is reason to be concerned. Denial of language is equivalent to denial of a people and its entire spiritual and cultural heritage shaped in its mother tongue; denial of the Bosnian language is denial of the right to life for Bosniaks and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the right to living space, the right to national dignity, the right to a more peaceful future. Such pseudoscientific nationalist statements embolden those fascistic forces, groups, and institutions in the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina to even deny the elementary human right to enter the name of the mother tongue in school certificates as its speakers have always felt, named, and written it, from Ban Kulin to the present day.

Starting from the essential religious truth that language, as a key means of communication between people, culture, and achieved knowledge, is one of the primary gifts of God to humankind on Earth, and that the denial of any language and its name is merely a continuation of genocidal and fascist policy, even if it is under the guise of so-called science, we call on all members of the Islamic Community who speak the Bosnian language, all Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sandžak, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, and wherever they may be in the diaspora, to approach this issue with utmost seriousness, care, and dignity. We also call on all educational institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, competent ministries at all levels of executive power, political representatives, educational, cultural, and other associations to systematically study the Bosnian linguistic heritage by supporting concrete scientific research projects and institutions that care for the Bosnian language.

For the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is unacceptable for any Bosniak representative at any level and in any institution to compromise on the name of the Bosnian language and attempt to replace it with some unconstitutional terms.