Velić: The Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot ignore the Salafi issue

The line of religious thought in Bosnia and Herzegovina or among Bosniaks is quite simple to explain, wrote Muhamed ef. Velić in a column for Preporod, reports the Patria news agency.

At its very center, explains ef. Velić, are traditional Bosnian Muslims represented by the Islamic Community, headed by the reisu-l-ulema, whose backbone is made up of imams (chief imams, muftis and muderrises) and congregations, i.e., congregation members.

These are, he adds further, the fine Bosnian Muslims with a fez during winter, and winter is much longer than the calendar winter, and a white cap during summer – on their heads. They mostly fulfill all religious obligations, without exaggeration, they use prayer beads, they do not have long beards, and very often they have none at all. That would, therefore, he says, be for him the center of Bosniak religious pragma, practice and consciousness.

Immediately on the right side, explains Velić, the first point would be the Wahhabi, actually, Salafi consciousness. This is a more radical consciousness, one that forbids many things (very often even what is not forbidden, at least not entirely) or, alternatively, considers many things obligatory, while by nature those things are not strictly binding or imperative. Such people are easy to recognize: long beards and short trousers. And they are too loud in the fight against „alleged“ innovations.

All the way to the right, says the esteemed theologian, as the far-right pole, thus, to the right of the Salafis, would be the Kharijites, takfiris, or, alternatively, those we see gathered under the common denominator ISIL or ISIS.

- These are those who, for the smallest „trifle“ committed, which is not according to their radical usul, cut off a head, as if it were a cabbage. But, before the execution of that unfortunate person (and because of those smallest „trifles“) they declare him a kafir and an enemy of Allah and make his blood permissible. This would, therefore, be the right side of the center.

Alongside the central religious thought and practice, i.e., the Islamic Community, which is the most numerous, Velić says it should be noted that neither the Sufis nor the Salafis are negligible. Although the Salafis are more visible, due to their outfit, while the Sufis are less pronounced and visible, and there are also many of them (more sympathizers than active Sufis). He reminds that it should also be said that the tariqas are within the IC, but the Salafis (active and passive) are also congregation members of the IC. At least they have been so far.

- To the left of the center is the first point which in the religious tradition among Bosniaks represents what we know as Sufi consciousness, and it concerns dervishes, Sufis, gathered in tekkes (architectural designation) and tariqas (spiritual organizations and paths) under the leadership of sheikhs. They briefly represent a „more liberal“ religious consciousness in the fiqh sense, and even in the aqidah sense, while in terms of ritual religion they have also introduced some patterns, as obligatory, while by nature they are not in that form, such as, for example, collective dhikr, following and giving bay'ah to the sheikh and murshid, etc. And to the left of the Sufis, therefore, the completely left and far pole are the Shia, and these are those who are followers of Shia teaching and who are, in fact, supporters and followers in the sense of the Companions only of Hazreti Ali. We do not know how many of them there are in BiH, because they are „hidden“, they do not reveal themselves. And in the fiqh and aqidah sense, likewise, they insert things that are foreign and unknown, and they do not accept those things and teachings around which there is a consensus of all other Muslims. They are, again, in that sense the most diverse and do not belong to the Ahl al-Sunnah determination – says Velić.

Of course, notes the theologian, the far poles of religious thought represent the biggest problems for the center, because they have pretensions to push out the center and functionally take its place. But, this should also be said, he states: no one became an ISIL member and takfiri without having been a Sufi before, nor did anyone become a Shia without having been a Salafi before. If there are exceptions, they only confirm the rule.

- It is quite evident that this believer (Salafi) population, which has its own sheikhs and separate regular activities and regular gatherings and lectures, is one step away from forming its own parallel religious structure.

As for the da'is outside the IC and students who have completed faculties in the Arab world and who are now among the people and operating there, they represent an evident „force“, and that relationship and position is best described by the famous sentence of Meša Selimović: „Too small to become a lake, yet too large for the earth to absorb.“

Thus, at this historical moment, they are still too small to become an independent lake (a second IC), but they have already become too large for the earth, i.e., the Islamic Community, to be able to absorb and assimilate them peacefully and imperceptibly.

However, they too are not satisfied with the development of the situation. They expected things to move much faster and for a change to come much sooner. But those old men and those fezzes just won't die out. There are always „some new old men“.

Nevertheless, they are still one step away from declaring their parallel religious structure. In almost every city, they have premises that they have bought, built or rent. In almost every mosque, they have one, two or three congregation members. These are, as a rule, always younger people, who are easy to „win over“, and rarely are older or more mature people their supporters.

But, regardless, it is about an energy that does not want to remain and be entropy, an energy that does not want to be part of a system in which one must listen and obey. They want their piece of the pie, their religious authority, their zakat which they are already taking and collecting enormously. Ultimately, it is a struggle on the religious market – claims ef. Velić.

He warns that the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot ignore this issue, it cannot be unconcerned by it, or consider it unimportant. Otherwise, very soon it will find itself in a situation where it will have to negotiate and agree with certain parties about what belongs to whom and who can operate where and how. The Islamic Community, Velić further warns, should take a categorical stance towards this growing and paid tendency. Otherwise, he adds further, some people in the IC, but also in the Bosniak political milieu, will bear responsibility because traditional and moderate Bosnian Muslims will be relegated to the historical junkyard. Right next to the Andalusian Moors.