Alhamdulillah. Excerpt:
Though there is little talk of the war in Sarajevo today, religious leaders trace Bosnia’s Islamic revival directly to the horrors people witnessed in the 1990s, when they were children. “This generation grew up overnight,” says the country’s Grand Mufti, Mustafa Efendi Ceric. “We had an entire generation asking, ‘Does God exist?’ And now we have a generation that is very religious.” Husic and her friends bear that out. As young girls, they watched their hometown of Mostar become ripped apart as lifelong neighbors turned against each other in a spiral of ethnic enmity; two of the four women lost their fathers, while another watched as an uncle was dragged away to his death. As rockets pummeled the city, the girls huddled in the makeshift basement that served as their classroom. Deeply shaken, all four opted to study in Egypt after the war under a religious sponsorship. They returned at 18 in hijabs — a sharp break from their families’ traditions. Their transformation was hardly unique. Aida Begic, 33, a director whose first feature film Snow has won numerous awards, says her teen years in besieged Sarajevo shook her to the core. “Every minute you wonder what will happen after you die,” she says. “You cannot postpone those questions until old age.” After years of dabbling in Buddhism and Judaism, and a phase as a punk rocker with blue hair, four years ago Begic adopted the Islamic head scarf and long dress and became deeply religious. She says the decision “caused an earthquake” among her family and friends, who are still uncomfortable with her devotion.
Read the full article here.
May Allah continue to guide them and keep them firm on the straight path. Ameen!
8 Responses for "Islamic Revival in Bosnia"
You might like the video “The Orphan Masjid of Kosova” given kosova isn’t bosnia but similiar circumstances. And the video was made right after the war so you see the rebuilding. (I grew up with Albanians/Bosnians/Turks..Love eastern Euro-Muslims more than anyone
)
Sweet. MashAllah.
“Every minute you wonder what will happen after you die,” The Companions of the Prophet SAW thought like this too. It is the best way to motivate ourselves to serve Allah.
Mash’Allah Jazak’Allah for sharing.
I don’t know if you’re aware but I think there’s a couple of articles on Mas’ud by Abdal Hakim Murad about Bosnia. It’s one of his many areas of expertise.
Cool, my guess is that the same thing is happening in all the countries in the Balkans.
@MK. Does Abdal Hakim Murad have any other article about Bosnia besides the one about the Churches during the war?
jazak Allahu khayran, also used it for my blog.
It’s beautiful to see how our Ummah is doing. Truly can see Allah working!
Sufism had an impact in the Islamic revival in Bosnia.
@Phil
There’s a couple of articles here to do with the Balkans area in general but not Bosnia specifically (My mistake I thought there were more on Bosnia on its own):
http://masud.co.uk/ISLAM/ahm/plovdiv.htm
http://masud.co.uk/ISLAM/ahm/sunnah.htm
Both are excellent and I would recommend everyone to check them out.
He also recently released a DVD of a talk he did in a Masjid in Bosnia:
http://www.cambridgemosqueismoving.org.uk/store/page1.html
All profits go towards the new Mosque in Cambridge!
Ok thanks will check out the Sunnah one out.
The plovdiv one could use an update.
Leave a comment