Riada Akyol wants Europeans not to worry about the ongoing invasion of Muslims — there are now 44 million of them in Europe — but to take heart from the experience of Bosnia, where, she claims, a “liberal European Islam” developed that could serve as a model for Muslims all over Europe.
What is too little noticed, however, is that a tolerant European Islam has already existed for centuries—on the southeastern part of the continent, where Bosnian Muslims, Albanians, Turks, and others see themselves as fully Muslim and fully European. A 2013 Pew Research Center study shows that they’re among the most liberal Muslims in the world. For example, only tiny minorities of surveyed Bosnian Muslims, known as Bosniaks, think adulterers must be stoned and apostates executed, in contrast with large majorities in favor of both stances among Pakistani and Egyptian Muslims.
The majority of Bosnians gradually accepted Islam after the Ottomans brought it to the region in the 15th century. They ruled until 1878, when they lost Bosnia to a longtime rival: the Austro-Hungarian empire. Many Bosniaks at that point felt uncomfortable under their new rulers, not least because classic texts of Muslim jurisprudence had banned living in territory ruled by non-Muslims. From 1878 to 1918, an estimated 150,000 emigrated to Turkey.
Why did the “majority of Bosnians” under Ottoman rule “accept” — i.e., convert — to Islam? They did so, as so many non-Muslims did elsewhere, in order to be free of the many onerous conditions, including payment of the Jizyah, that were imposed on non-Muslim dhimmis. The author leaves the piquant subject of the dhimmi out of her telling. In the case of the Ottoman Turks, there was an additional demand made on their Infidel subjects. From the fourteenth century on, the Turks established the devshirme system, whereby in the Balkans, Christian boys, from the ages of 8 to 18, were delivered up to the Turks, who would then convert them and raise them up to be soldiers for the Sultan. This was another inducement for Christians to convert to Islam, so as to avoid having to hand over their sons in this cruel system..
It is likely that the 150,000 Bosnians who emigrated to Turkey after Bosnia became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were mostly the more fervent Believers, those who did not believe Muslims should continue to live in a country ruled by non-Muslims; those who remained in Bosnia were likely less devout, and more willing to compromise with their new, non-Muslim masters, than those who left.
But prominent Muslim intellectuals voiced arguments that helped stem the tide of Bosniak emigration. Among them was Grand Mufti M. T. Azabagić, who argued in the 1880s that a Muslim can in fact live happily under a tolerant non-Islamic state “where he is neither abused nor insulted for his acts of devotion.” In response, Bosniaks accepted Austro-Hungarian rule and began to organize themselves under the secular state.
In 1882, the official “Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina” was established. The organization’s structure continued to evolve in response to shifting historical circumstances, gradually becoming a body that operated with a degree of independence from the state as it sought to govern Islamic affairs such as spiritual education. Eventually, it had an elected leader and its own religious and legislative bodies. It was self-financed, with much of its income coming from membership fees and charitable donations, and was responsible for maintaining mosques, appointing and training imams, drawing up fatwas, and directing theological studies at various schools. (Even today, it is still in place and very much functioning.)
Another pressing issue at the time was the conscription of young Bosniaks into a non-Muslim army. Could Muslims serve in a military led by Christians? The tension was eased when Mustafa Hilmi Hadžiomerović, then mufti of Sarajevo, issued a fatwa in 1881 calling on Bosniaks to obey the draft. He then issued another fatwa declaring that the appointment of judges by a non-Muslim ruler was valid, which led the Bosnian religious leadership to accept the modernization of Sharia courts and their gradual integration into the Hapsburg state judiciary’s jurisdiction. This was, notably, based on mutual concession, as the Hapsburgs were flexible enough to allow Sharia to operate in the realm of civil law under their rule. (The Sharia courts were abolished in 1946 with the arrival of socialist Yugoslavia.)
In all of these examples, the true explanation for this “moderation” by the Muslims was that they had no choice. They were in no position to refuse to live under non-Muslim rulers, even though many Muslims believed that they were forbidden to live under such rule. To their rescue came the Grand Mufti M. T. Azabagić, who argued in the 1880s — just a few years after the Bosnians became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire — that a Muslim can in fact live happily in a tolerant non-Islamic state “where he is neither abused nor insulted for his acts of devotion.” And now that Muslims were drafted to serve in the Christian-led military of the Hapsburgs, a way had to be found to justify their serving. The fatwa of Mufti Hilmi Hadžiomerović provided that justification. He also issued a fatwa supporting the appointment of judges by the non-Muslim rulers, because there was nothing he could have done to prevent the practice.
Ferdinand (@StFerdinandIII) says
Same tolerance that Allied Bosnian Moslems with the Nazis and started the 1990s war in which Moslems happily slaughtered Serbs. In fact the Moslem eradication of non-Moslems in Bosnia dates back to the early 20th century and was a well-spring for violence when Yugoslavia de-composed.
Bosnian Moslem intolerance of non-Moslems, even today, makes no appearance in this witless worm’s writings no doubt. In reality they are expunging non Moslems and that is what makes the ‘liberal’ scream with delight. Slowly they will eradicate non Moslems from Bosnia – as Moslems do everywhere.
“Relatively few Bosnian Muslims count non-Muslims among their close friends: Roughly nine-in-ten Bosnian Muslims (93%) say most, if not all, of their close friends share their faith.
Similarly, few Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina are comfortable with the idea of their son or daughter marrying outside the faith. Fewer than one-in-five Bosnian Muslims say they would be comfortable with either a son (16%) or daughter (14%) marrying a Christian. ”
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/07/10/how-bosnian-muslims-view-christians-20-years-after-srebrenica-massacre-2/
Ferdinand (@StFerdinandIII) says
“Prosecutors in Sarajevo said on December 29 that 11 former Muslim members of the Bosnian Army were charged with taking part in an attack against the Serb village of Cemerno in the region of Ilijas, north of Sarajevo, in which 30 people were killed.
In another case, 14 former Muslim police and military officials were indicted for war crimes allegedly committed against dozens of Serbs in the southern region of Konjic, the Sarajevo state prosecutor’s office said.
Ten of the indicted men are already in detention, it said.
Their crimes allegedly included the “murder of several dozen Serb civilians, both men and women of different age, torture, robbery and persecution of nearly the whole Serb population from the Konjic area,” the prosecutor’s office said.”
https://www.rferl.org/a/bosnia-charges-25-muslim-wartime-officers-four-bosnian-serb-officers-war-crimes/28947007.html
Liberal Bosnian Islam.
CRUSADER says
Is she related to this writer?
Mustafa Akyol — Turkish author of “Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty”
He also spoke at TED, giving a lecture on Faith versus Tradition in Islam….
His thesis on Turkey’s Kurdish question, he later extended to a popular book titled Kürt Sorununu Yeniden Düşünmek: Yanlış Giden Neydi, Bundan Sonra Nereye? (“Rethinking the Kurdish Issue: What Went Wrong, What Next?”)
He has criticized both Islamic extremism and Turkish secularism, which he likens to Jacobinism and fundamentalism. His articles are often friendly to the incumbent Justice and Development Party
mortimer says
Thanks for the information, Ferdinand. The appearance of ‘laid-back’ Islam is very much no more than Islam-à-la-carte that the Bosnians are playing. They can at any moment simply ramp up their faith into a JIHAD FEVERED PITCH and then let it slide back to the normal, carefree Bosnian fatalism.
At the end of the day, the DEFAULT POSITION of Islam will always be AL WALAA WAL BARAA … the canonical, compulsory hatred directed by Muslims towards the dirty, disbelieving kafirs who merely disagree that Mohammed is a valid prophet. If anyone doesn’t understand AL WALAA WAL BARAA, they do not have a chance of understanding the Muslim mindset.
gravenimage says
True, Maria.
CRUSADER says
How about this article, by Riada Akyol on novelist Elif Shafak?
TURKEY PULSE
Elif Shafak: ‘Turkey is a country of collective amnesia’
By Riada Asimovic Akyol janvier 14, 2014
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/fr/contents/articles/originals/2014/01/elif-shafak-novelist-turkey-politics-identity.html
Jule Bacal says
Thank you. I was wondering if anyone would bring that up. Its also where the Mufti of Jerusalem served & recruited for Hitler after he was thrown out of Israel by Brits.
paul says
I don’t know any Bosnian Muslims but I know plenty of Albanian muslims in New York My experience with them over the years are that they are very decent people who recognize and reciprocate the kindness of others. But the thing about them is not that they are ‘moderate’ muslims, They are not religious at all. They are largely secular, assimilated Americans. So I’m not sure that Hugh’s take on Ballkan muslims is accurate or useful. I suspect that the form of Islam that has taken hold in Bosnia is not very strong and the people there are mostly secular too.
b.a. freeman says
paul, your observation echoes what i have read – about the *parents* of the current generation of people coming of age in bosnia. for the latter group, it would appear that, like the recent “immigrants” and the children of older muslim immigrants in eurabia, islam is *really* important, and of course, they also believe that sharia is a big part of islam (in other words, they tend toward piety). i don’t know anybody of this extraction; this is just what i have read. nevertheless, it is concerning.
Garfield says
Piety?let’s be specific though. Is there any value in being “puous” when the “piety” is about upholding the idea that women should keep covered in bags, FGM is fine, gays should all due and so should “unbeleivers”?
Garfield says
Sorry for typos.
gravenimage says
Paul, I’m afraid that your idea that Islam in Albania is utterly benign does not hold water:
“Orahovac Albanians in Kosovo may be the leading cadre of terrorist recruits, recruited by al-Qaeda”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2005/03/orahovac-albanians-in-kosovo-may-be-the-leading-cadre-of-terrorist-recruits-recruited-by-al-qaeda
CRUSADER says
When the crisis and anxious times increase, will these “moderate” Muslims still be on the fence?
Or will the hop over the fence to choose a side?
What side will that likely be?
Therein lies the rub.
gravenimage says
+1
Garfield says
I think it’s sick to be fascinated by anything exotic and different just because it is different. Different does not mean better. To lavish praise on moderate islamists……what about other cultures? Does this woman appreciate anything that isn’t tinged with Arabian nights/Aladdin themeing? Does Islam seem “mysterious” and therefore somehow superior?
CRUSADER says
How do you feel about The Shriners?
They were the Fez, call their locations after Arabic names, hold Arabic themes….
Since 9/11, they played it down a bit, but it does seem very anachronistic.
gravenimage says
Garfield, Riada Akyol is *herself* Muslim. This is not dhimmitude–it is Taqiyya.
She regularly whitewashes Islam, writing such ludicrous stories as this one, published in the NYT:
“How Islam Can Fight the Patriarchy”
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/11/opinion/how-islam-can-fight-the-patriarchy.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share
Bill Garrison says
In 1997, I served with the U.S. Army inside Sarajevo in attempt to stop the fighting between the Serbs, Croats and Bosniacs. I met many Muslim Bosniacs who were more secular than they were Salafi jihadists. Titio had supported more of a Western-oriented perspective than an Soviet-Eastern one. Some had intermarried between Muslims and Christians. They were very happy to have us there — primarily to stop the fighting. There was even a Playboy-licensed club next door to the Soros-supported ACLU office. But, one of our terps warned me of the foreign Pakistani) muhajirren jihadi-soldiers who populated the Bosniac military.
CRUSADER says
Did the military garrison pay the bill
for the Playboy club?
Bill Garrison says
I seldom saw a female covered in hijab — but I understand this has changed. The local Jewish synagogue offered medical supplies to both sides during the war — in their attempt to appease both sides, in hope of not being attacked.
gravenimage says
There are only a handful of Jews surviving in Bosnia today.
CRUSADER says
Riada Asimovic Akyol: How Islam Can Fight the Patriarchy, Islamic Society
???? Riada Asimovic Akyol, New Age Islam ????
newageislam.com
Hmmmmmm……
gravenimage says
More likely just lying to make Islam look good.
Ecosse1314 says
Was in B/H recently visiting an RC shrine in Herzegovina. I can confirm that that the wearing of bin bags in Bosnia is on the increase.
lebel says
Article is from January. The reason it is being discussed now is to provide “persective” to the Christchurch shootings (inspired by the Bosnian genocide and the ideology that led to it) lest any jihadwatchers feel some sympathy for the hated Muslims.
gravenimage says
What claptrap. There are older stories posted here all the time–not every story here is hot breaking news.
Jule Bacal says
I question whether their was Muslim Bosnian genocide or defense of a country. I really have not studies it but my impression is that Islam moved in and was taking over and incurred war. What is War but genocide of humans either for more power or defense of the last resort. Thats why I hate war but as a last defense to annihilation, I guess I would say war or Split. But you got me curious…I will look into the whys of ‘the Butcher,’ who was found guilty. Perhaps though he was some White Supremacist. I realy do not know at this moment.
lebel says
There will be more articles like this on jwatch including some defending war crimes by Serbs and offering veiled justification for them. Why? because the shooter was inspired by this ideology. “https://www.rferl.org/a/christchurch-attacks-yugoslavia-tarrant-inspiration-suspect-new-zealand/29823655.html
Jihadwatchers are being carefully manipulated right now, hopefully some will realize it.
FYI says
islam is the religion of antiChrist:it has no place in Europe.
islam has a false god,a false prophet and a false scripture.
{The smart ones see through it and leave islam:the fools stick with it…or defend it..}
Its false god allah “the Best of deceivers” k3:54 has as his greatest enemy,Malik Al Amlak{sahih muslim vol 5 hadith #5611}which is Jesus Christ.
islam is antisocial with its Doctrine of Hate{al walaa wal baraa} and i ts command for muslims NOT to mix with Jews and christains k5:51
islam’s commandment-of-God violating koranic teachings are an abomination.
The koran has so many theological and scientific errors,it is obvious it was written by a 7th century man pretending to be God.
islam’s “prophet” muhammed was a Fat,white,cross-dressing,lying terrorist:the Perfect man!
{Abu dawud 40:4731,Shih bukhar 2442,al tabari 6:111,Sahih bukhari 4:52:220}
islam is the only world religion that preaches GENOCIDE
Sahih Muslim # 6985
gravenimage says
What claptrap from lebel. The idea that one is being manipulated if they stand against violent Jihad is just sickening.
Wellington says
+1
Mirren10 says
+2
lebel needs to consider how *he* is being manipulated by the msm. On the other hand, maybe the toerag *is* a ‘journalist’ ! 🙂
CRUSADER says
No manipulation.
Just free thinking on matters which REMAIN relevant!
Expand your mind, lebel, and you may see the light more widely, deeply, from a higher elevation.
F says
As a Bosnian Ex-Muslim just wanted to let you know that my own, ever-so European family sent me death threats and disowned me for converting to Christianity and dating a non-Muslim aka a kafir. My Muslim ‘friends’ stopped talking to me. Please not buy into this rubbish of the Bosnian la la Islam. When it comes to it non of them will reject the fundamental doctrines of Islam – the war in the 90’s didn’t help the cause. Let’s just clarify something, yes the Serbs actually slaughtered the Bosniaks not vice versa. Please stop writing this bollocks about Bosniaks initiating war that’s none sense.
mortimer says
Thanks, F, for your testimony. The Balkans have been called the ‘Cockpit of Europe’ for a good reason. The various tribes were spread around under the devious Ottoman strategy of divide and rule. They encouraged interethnic and interfaith hatred and then enjoyed the weakness of each group that could not organize an opposition or rebellion.
LB says
“Serbs actually slaughtered the Bosniaks not vice versa”
Riiiiiight. I suppose that when Izetbegovic brought in the professional head-chopping mujahedeen butchers from Afghanistan and gave them citizenship, it was only for self defense, right? The poor and helpless innocent muslim Bosnians were being mercilessly slaughtered without cause by those eeeevil genocidal Christian Serbs that they had no choice but to slaughter them back; in their own villages, not on the battlefront. All those monuments engraved in Arabic letters erected after the war are testament to the bravery of those lions of islam.
Oh and your national hero Naser Oric did nothing but bravely fought back against those genocidal Serbian farmers by raiding their villages from the UN safe zone and making human barbecues out of them. And he most certainly did not run away the moment Serbian army came close to Srebrenica.
How about you actually research the facts for yourself before swallowing whatever propaganda your muslim government fed you. There are TONNES of images and videos from that period available just few clicks away. One of the most well-put-together documentaries (with source videos and images) was filmed by a Norwegian and a Bosnian muslim who actually fought in the war on the muslim side. It has English subtitles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnALEecbZ-k
Jule Bacal says
What he was telling you is that he agrees with you that ‘European/Western Islam’ in Bosnia is a MYTH and to prove it are his own parents who threaten him for finally finding a way out of the straightjacket of pathological Beliefs. He does not need more research because thankfully, he KNOWS first hand
mortimer says
Riada Akyol’s version of history is part of a modern Turkish ‘hey-stay-cool’ attitude. They want people to think they are modern when in fact Turkish ideas about genocide are still in the Bronze Age.
Ole Pederson says
Bosnian muslims mostly were very moderate before the wars of the 1990s – in other words they were not really religious at all. A saying went “Ali in the morning, Aliya in the evening” in other words, Catholics and Serbs could celebrate with Muslims and vice versa. There was a small but considerable percentage of intermarriage, as well.
That all changed with the substantial support of the Muslim side by the United States in the civil war, and when – with the help of US and Iran (yes there was cooperation) – thousands of so-called mujahedeen, Jihad warriors from Afghanistan were secretly brought into Bosnia, the most heinous crimes took place, with usually Serbian victims, while the international media portrayed the Serbs as the villains. Here’s the Bosnian Jihad brigade.
Ole Pederson says
Two additional thoughts:
1. Check old photos of Bosnia life: you will not find any headscarves except the non-religious ones worn by Serbian women working on farms.
2. The so-called is the biggest media fraud of the 20th century. It never happened (there were no large-scale massacres, but there was fighting and hence casualties). Recommended read: Ed Herman (Ed.),
kuriakose says
Ole Pederson: Yes, the Serbs were deliberately demonised to pave the way for the break up of Yugoslavia by Nato, US.
Another great book: Diana Johnstone’s Fools’ Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions
Review here: https://monthlyreview.org/commentary/diana-johnstone-on-the-balkan-wars/
gravenimage says
Hugh Fitzgerald: Riada Akyol Presents the “Tolerant Islam” of Bosnia (Part One)
………………..
Uh…right. Ignore all of that oppression and murder of Christians and Jews.
“Bosnia imam calls for jihad against the Serbs”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/09/bosnia-imam-calls-for-jihad-against-the-serbs
“Archbishop: Up to 10,000 Catholics leaving Bosnia-Herzegovina each year because of discrimination”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/01/archbishop-up-to-10000-catholics-leaving-bosnia-herzegovina-each-year-because-of-discrimination
“Bosnia: Recently repaired Orthodox church set on fire”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/06/bosnia-recently-repaired-orthodox-church-set-on-fire
There are many more such stories.
Choice America says
Somebody is not wearing their rag on their head.
Screw the muslim invasion. War is inevitable to rid the disease.
UNCLE VLADDI says
Try telling those lies to the few Serbs left in their own heartland of Kosovo after being violenlty invaded and genocided by their “peaceful muslim neighbors” from Turkey by way of next-door Albania and Bosnia.
PS: Thanks, Adolf Hitler and Bill Clinton, for your culturally-enriching ethnic diversity pogroms!
Halal Bacon says
Thinking of Hungary, anyone see “Budapest” the movie? yah I know Netflix show, blah blah blah