Meeting with Reis Kavazović: What the Joint Statement on Terrorism Says

A meeting was held in Sarajevo between the Reis-ul-ulema of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Husein ef. Kavazović, and Bosniak and social political representatives, where a joint statement on terrorism was to be agreed upon and signed, reports the news agency Patria.

Patria fully conveys the Draft Joint Statement that the attendees signed.

As citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as Bosniaks and Muslims, representatives of political, cultural, and religious life, concerned about terrorist actions in BiH, Europe, and the world, we are aware of our responsibility for preserving freedom, peace, and coexistence in our homeland, responsible for the political, cultural, and religious conditions in BiH society, as well as for the future of Bosniaks and Bosnia and Herzegovina,

1. We most strongly condemn all forms of terrorism and all terrorist actions carried out in BiH, Europe, Muslim countries, and anywhere in the world.

2. We express our determination to institutionally, intellectually, morally, and politically oppose all forms of radicalism, violent extremism, and terrorism. We particularly emphasize the need to intensify activities at all levels of legislative and executive power to rapidly address injustice and inequality, and other sources of frustration and radicalization in society.

3. We demand that all competent institutions in the country, in accordance with their legal powers, and in order to preserve the constitutional values, rights, and freedoms of all citizens and peoples in BiH, uncompromisingly oppose all forms of radicalism, violent extremism, and terrorism, as well as other forms of action that are contrary to the legal order, public safety, morality, or are detrimental to the life and health, or detrimental to the rights and freedoms of other people.

4. Proud of our centuries-old religious tradition and commitment to coexistence, respecting the Constitution of the Islamic Community in BiH, we demand from all competent bodies in BiH society, within the Bosniak people, as well as from all individuals, intellectuals, educational and cultural workers, and holders of religious authority in the Islamic Community in BiH to uncompromisingly oppose exclusivity, radicalism, violent extremism, and terrorism, because they are unacceptable from the standpoint of Islam and contrary to universal civilizational values.

5. We expect the authorities of Muslim countries to respect our religious-educational tradition, institutions, and autonomy, and to cooperate with the state institutions of BiH and the Islamic Community in BiH regarding scientific, religious-educational, and student exchange.

6. We expect religious, theological, and educational circles and institutions of Muslim countries to value our authentic historical experience and our identity, for the preservation of which we have paid a high price and lost many lives throughout history, to value our religious/Islamic and European self-awareness that we inherit and continue to develop in our specific cultural, social, and political context, and in no way to incite sectarianism and religious discord among Bosniak Muslims.

7. We expect European countries, especially EU member states where Muslims are a minority, to oppose Islamophobia, discrimination against Muslims, and their identification with terrorists.

8. We expect the international community to engage in the legitimate fight against terrorism by addressing political, economic, and social injustices towards Muslim peoples and countries, as such injustices contribute to the rise of despair and hopelessness, fertile ground for the emergence of extremism.

9. We expect Muslims in BiH, as well as Muslim communities in Europe, to remain consistent with their traditional and universal Islamic moral, spiritual, and civilizational values, to distance themselves from all radicalism, to oppose all forms of violence, and that injustice, which always exists in this imperfect world, never and nowhere leads them to actions that could increase injustice and evil, both to others and to themselves.