Association of Ilmiyya of the Islamic Community in BiH condemns the RS police summons of Efendi Mahić

(Patria) - The Association of Ilmiyya of the Islamic Community (IC) in Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued a statement regarding the summons of the chief imam of the Islamic Community Council (MIZ) Kozarac, hafiz Amir-ef. Mahić, for an interview at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) of Republika Srpska (RS).

"Unfortunately, for the umpteenth time, we are once again facing the hatred and political incorrectness of the current regime of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity of RS towards Bosniaks, Muslims, and their religious representatives.

The reason for this is a few carelessly spoken sentences in the sermon of imam Amir-ef. Mahić, held on January 27, 2023, in Kozarac, which caused displeasure among some members of the Orthodox faith.

Hafiz Amir-ef. Mahić already issued a public apology in his next sermon to everyone whose feelings he unintentionally hurt. We thought the matter would end there, as misunderstandings among people are resolved in that way. The Rijaset of the Islamic Community also emphasized its clear commitment and pointed out the necessity of greater sensitivity in public discourse.

It was expected that this would be noticed and respected, and that the matter would end there. Unfortunately, it did not, as has happened many times before.

Imam Mahić's speech was of an ritualistic nature and as such cannot be incriminated. He was performing a religious service. He did not advocate, neither then nor ever before, violence or hatred towards others, nor did he call for evil. He wanted to point out the abuse of religion for dishonorable purposes.

The authorities of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity of RS did not take into account the fact that this was a reaction to the constant discrimination of Bosniaks in that entity, especially in the education system, but instead, by twisting the facts, they are trying to shift that burden onto those who are discriminated against.

Bosniaks do not accept that their children in the education system, which should be secular, study and mark what is neither their religious nor cultural tradition.

Hafiz Amir Mahić has faced this since childhood and every day, all around him, he sees the consequences of abuse and the fanatical imposition of different beliefs. He and all other imams in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity of RS.

Children they teach in mekteb and school are constantly facing this abuse.

This time again, fearing harmony among people and religious communities in our country, the media and politicians have launched a political hunt and media storm against imam Mahić.

The epilogue is: a prompt summons of the imam for an interview at the MUP of RS - 'due to grounds for suspicion that he has committed a criminal offense (CO) of public incitement and instigation of violence and hatred'!

The said MUP has never reacted to the multitude of real and loud incitement to violence and hatred, which regime media and policies have been carrying out for many years, spreading hatred, destabilizing social conditions, producing an unhealthy atmosphere, and breaking ties among people in our country.

We remind that the entity of RS is a political creation in which several dozen imams were brutally murdered. The Islamic Community and imams in this entity face apartheid against Muslims on a daily basis. That creation, unfortunately, continues to function on that basis, encouraged by the silence of the civilized world.

Unfortunately, the world has allowed an entity based on evident apartheid and intolerance to develop in the heart of Europe.

The Association of Ilmiyya also wants to emphasize that it firmly stands with the chief imam of the Islamic Community Council of Kozarac, hafiz Amir Mahić, and calls on the international community and domestic political actors to most seriously re-examine the issue of the treatment of Bosniaks and their discrimination in the territory of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity of RS," the statement from the Association of Ilmiyya reads.