Freedom of Religion or Belief

Bosnian Muslim Engagement with a Fundamental Human Right

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse how Bosnian Muslims, both as part of the global Muslim Ummah and an autochthonous European people, view the European or, more broadly, Western concept of the individual right to freedom of religion. While the paper does provide a historical review of their engagement with freedom of religion from the time of the Ottoman conquest and the spread of Islam among the population until the period of the socialist Yugoslavia in the 2nd half of the 20th century, the focus is on the period since the 1990s, during which Bosnian society has been undergoing transformation from a communist to a liberal open society, including the establishment of new standards for the religious sphere that reflect the values of the European liberal democratic tradition. In addition to analysing the normative legal framework of freedom of religion and the relationship between the state and the religious communities, due attention is given to how the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina has positioned itself under the new regime and the challenges involved in achieving the various individual and institutional aspects of religious freedom for Bosnian Muslims. The author argues that the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the bearer of religious authority for Bosnian Muslims, has exhibited a proactive approach in post-socialist restructuring of relations between the state and religion, deploying all the positive attributes of the internationally recognized right to freedom of religion, as embodied in the liberal-democratic tradition of Western Europe.