[ May 6, 2024 ]
Liberal European Islam? Really? The Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, once a symbol of ethnic diversity, has been ethnically cleansed of non-Muslims. It has become an entirely Muslim city, thanks to Bill Clinton’s intervention in the Bosnian war in support of the Bosnian Muslims against the Serbs.
The Middle East was once a Christian region. It has been completely islamized, save the tiny Jewish state of Israel.
I have maintained for years that President Bill Clinton made one of his many catastrophic mistakes when he backed the Muslims in the Bosnian war. Like President Carter backing the Ayatollah Khomeini against the pro-American Shah, the consequences of aiding and abetting Islamic movements are catastrophic, as we have seen in Iran with the recent protests against the Islamic regime. And here is more evidence of that fact.
Story continues below advertisement
It also bears mentioning that the leader of the Muslim world, the Mufti al-Husseini, raised Muslim armies for Hitler in Bosnia. Bosnian Muslim leaders were major Nazi collaborators during World War II and the Holocaust. They were complicit in and participated in the Ustasha genocide committed against Serbs, Jews, and Roma. They demanded to be allies of Nazi Germany, and formed two Nazi SS Divisions during the war. The Serbs were our allies in the great war, which made President Bill Clinton’s support of the Bosnian Muslims and abandonment of the Serbs obscene and wrong. And now the Bosnian Muslims are finishing the job that the Mufti started, persecuting and driving out the Catholics of the region.
I continue to take heat for my support of the Serbs (Christians) in Clinton’s Bosnian misadventure. But it is increasingly clear that I have been right all along: we were on the wrong side in that war, and the consequences of Clinton’s perfidy will continue to reverberate in that region.
“Want to Cultivate a Liberal European Islam? Look to Bosnia.” by Riada Asimovic Akyol, The Atlantic, January 13, 2019 (thanks to Vikram):
When French President Emmanuel Macron said last summer that he would create a new “framework and rules” for Islamic institutions in France, he was not alone. Other politicians and thinkers have also been involved in a broader effort to find an articulation of the religion that meshes with what they see as European values.
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 case of my people, Bosniaks, is particularly instructive. It shows how attitudes toward Islam can evolve over time and how its adherents—with the help of progressive theologians and intellectuals—can embrace modernity without abandoning their religious identity. Throughout the 20th century, Bosniak thinkers offered creative theological interpretations of Islam that squared with European life. Yet their contributions are not well known in western Europe today. As anti-Muslim populist propaganda fosters paranoia across several European countries, it’s all the more urgent to recover neglected evidence of the compatibility between Islam and modern Europe.
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.
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.)
Bosniaks also debated Muslim women’s issues, including use of the face veil. One of the most renowned debates on the subject dates to 1928. It began when Mehmed Džemaludin Čaušević, the grand mufti of the Bosniak community and an important religious reformist, argued that the face veil was a product of historical tradition, not of religion per se, so it was possible to change veiling practices without violating Islam. Religious conservatives, who considered covering a woman’s face to be a religious duty, reacted harshly. But through a long and vigorous back-and-forth, Čaušević eventually earned the support of notable intellectuals and professionals, some of whom soon became the leaders of a self-defined progressive movement.
After World War II, during Communist rule in Yugoslavia, the “emancipation” of Muslim women was enacted through authoritarian means. The face veil was perceived as backward—an obstacle to women’s much-needed participation in the socialist rebuilding of the newly formed country. The Women’s Antifascist Front, a state-sponsored organization, organized campaigns to unveil Muslim women in Yugoslavia from 1947 to 1950. At public unveiling ceremonies, women clambered onto stages and removed their zar—a black garment resembling today’s burka—en masse.
State-imposed unveiling ultimately culminated in a legal ban on face veils in 1950. The new law was presented to the public as the state’s response to Muslim women’s mass requests. Although some women did welcome the ban, many ended up more isolated as a result of it; they felt they had to stay home because they couldn’t go outside with their heads uncovered. Written and video testimonies confirm the difficulties they endured.
Concerned for the position of Muslim women in society, Bosnia’s highest official Islamic religious body supported the unveiling campaigns at the time. It made several statements in 1947 asserting that veiling one’s face and covering one’s hands up to the wrists was not required by religious code. Ibrahim Fejić, a mufti who then served as the leader of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said Islam asks women to dress modestly, but that this does not require face veiling or isolation from the public. He added, “It is a sin in Islam to allow oneself what the religion forbids; it is as much a sin to forbid to oneself what the religion permits.”
Today, the history and practice of Bosnian Islam yield a number of noteworthy lessons for those seeking to cultivate a liberal Islam in Europe….
The Truth Must be Told
Your contribution supports independent journalism
Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more.
Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible.
Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too.
Please contribute here.
or
Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.
Quick note: We cannot do this without your support. Fact. Our work is made possible by you and only you. We receive no grants, government handouts, or major funding.Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here.
Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here— it’s free and it’s essential NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America's survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.
Follow Pamela Geller on Gettr. I am there. click here.
Follow Pamela Geller on Trump's social media platform, Truth Social. It's open and free.
Remember, YOU make the work possible. If you can, please contribute to Geller Report.
Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spammy or unhelpful, click the - symbol under the comment to let us know. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
If you would like to join the conversation, but don't have an account, you can sign up for one right here.
If you are having problems leaving a comment, it's likely because you are using an ad blocker, something that break ads, of course, but also breaks the comments section of our site. If you are using an ad blocker, and would like to share your thoughts, please disable your ad blocker. We look forward to seeing your comments below.
37 Comments
5 years ago
shitslam is a suicidal noose wherever it is allowed to fester
5 years ago
In speaking towards the great intellectual accomplishment(s) of boozneeack moslems,. the author writes: “Yet their contributions are not well known in western Europe today.”
Can ANYONE give me ONE accomplishment of a boozneeack moselm, outside of brutally gang raping and murdering Serbs?
5 years ago
Reply to
Achmed Mohandjob
I can! Forcible organ harvesting from Christians on an industrialized scale.
5 years ago
Reply to
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
Thanks. I need to add that to the list of brutally gang raping, torturing and murdering Serbs and other Christians …. Make sense. After the gang rapes, tortures and murders …. why let good organs go to waste?
5 years ago
Reply to
Achmed Mohandjob
Well they, um, they………They can arm a 120mm canon faster than you can shake a stick at.
5 years ago
Atlantic, “The majority of Bosnians gradually accepted islam after the Ottomans brought it to the region in the 15th century.” As far as I am concerned, when you got conquered by muslims you were forced to become a muslim or be persecuted and even executed.
5 years ago
Reply to
ace wheeler
What a contrast to Obummer!
Obama with one of his many lovers!
Where are Obama’s girlfriends?
By Rev. Austin Miles
September 2, 2014
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/miles/140902
Obama’s background is a big lie. He was our Manchurian Candidate.
The few that remembered him at universities he attended, didn’t have flattering things to say about him.
http://www.renewamerica.com/images/columns/14/140902miles.jpg
http://www.lucianne.com/images/lucianne/DailyPhoto/2010-08-31-MRQQU.jpg
5 years ago
Reply to
felix1999
“Manchurion Candidate” indeed! How many more are coming up behind him we still don’t know about?
5 years ago
Reply to
felix1999
Here’s one that got me kicked off FB more than once. I hope the folks here will appreciate the humor! She is the only GF he ever needed!
5 years ago
Reply to
santashandler
It’s a very doctored photo Santa. But still funny and very offensive to some. Facebook put a block on it while I had a profile there. I got it on my profile several times. Usually lasted a couple days before someone complained. I’d get a reprimand from a monitor telling me it was in Violation of the Community Standards and that I should read them so I wouldn’t do it again, which of course I did. Eventually I couldn’t post it.
5 years ago
Reply to
ace wheeler
Yes, I know 🙂 Based on those ever changing “Community Standards” it’s a surprise you weren’t banned all together.
5 years ago
Reply to
Achmed Mohandjob
Yes. Good point. You tend to over look things like that when you see her having a spaz attack getting into a van.
5 years ago
As some of you might surmise, I post photos as they are worth a thousand words. I have dozens of photos of Serbian Christians and the MOSLEMS that have invaded them over the centuries.
These guys were in the Hanzar Division which al Husseini helped recruit.
5 years ago
The Atlantic, suitable only for lining your birdcage.
5 years ago
Bill was busy snorting coke, ogling and raping women, getting serviced by Monika in the oval office, making the rounds with liberal talk show hosts and of course playing his saxophone. When the U.S.S.S. Cole was damaged, he did nothing. He also embraced Tony Blair in the U.K.. The draft dodger had disdain for our military. Of the two, Hillary seems to be the more evil of the two. It’s hard to believe but he was elected to two terms!
When genocides were containable and more easily stopped such as in Rwanda, Clinton did nothing. The U.N. well aware of it also did nothing. Even lefty wikipedia outlines Clinton’s disastrous foreign policy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_policy_of_the_Bill_Clinton_administration
Meanwhile Hillary, “two for the price of one President” tried Hillarycare and failed. Next she began selling influence and technology secrets to China. When that got old, she was introduced to Huma Abedin an intern, and like cat nip to a cat, became addicted to Muslim money and started the annual tradition of a Ramadan Eid celebration dinner in 1996 at the WH. Muslims were also her initial and larger funders of their Clinton Global Initiative slush fund. Many were disappointed when she didn’t win in 2016.
5 years ago
Reply to
felix1999
Don’t forget it was Hillary who orchestrated the intimidation and threat campaign against many of Bill’s assault victims. Including Kathleen Wiley.
5 years ago
Bosnia is a model for a Liberal Muslim Europe??? WT!@#$%^&*()*&^%$#@@!
Goebbels would be proud.
5 years ago
The Atlantic typifies the Leftist-Progressive mollycoddling and propagandizing that Islam/Muslims are the never-ending victims. Victimhood appeals to the Democrats/Liberals only when it affects Muslims by conjuring lies and deception of the facts to corroborate these falsehoods. The facts, it is the Jews who continually are fair-game to Jew-Hatred, bashing, and unfettered anti-Semitic vitriol; Christians, also, are deemed unworthy of protection from bigotries.
The Atlantic is representative of the Leftist-Progressive MSM’s dysfunctionality and perfidy. Not to overlook the Democrats bent on the Globalization, Islamization of the USA. The Big Lie historically was and continues being used by aspirant despots, totalitarians to overthrow Constitutional Democracies or Republics; the Democratic Party and its Fifth Column are no different.
5 years ago
Spot on.
5 years ago
The Left themselves are mentally ill. Their head is stuck in an airy-fairy dreamland thinking they can create a better world by ignoring all the savagery of Islamic fascism, no matter how bad it gets. What they’re doing is laying the groundwork for their own eventual extermination by Muslim hands.
If you’re a Leftist you could be forgiven if you gave all Muslims a pass for 9/11 or Beslan or Mumbai and you could chock it up to a few very rotten apples. But then when you see FGM, honor-killings, a vile religion that incites hatred and killing of Jews and all non-Muslims, when you see ordinary Muslims continue to carry out terrorists attacks on a daily basis, then at that point you need to realize this is more than a few crackpots. If you fail to see the pattern or connect the dots, either you have a screw loose in your head or you’ve evil and want Islam to win or you’re a coward.
The fact that Leftists don’t from Hillary Clinton on down to the lowly Democratic peon (same as in all western nations), means that you have decided to appease this enemy. Leftists aren’t totally stupid, they can see how deadly Muslims as a group are but they’re terrified of them. They’re hoping for accomodation or expect that Muslims can be changed and be tamed.
This is the same logic of a battered wife (and no offense to them). If the West adopts the slavish, subservient attitude to Muslims (which of course they’d love to see), then say goodbye to modernity, freedom, civilization and everything we hold dear. It’s time for all non-Muslims, Christians, Atheists, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, etc to unite and work to defeat Islam.
Pamela is absolutely right, Clinton is responsible for creating the Islamic terrorist state in Serbia. How about we non-Muslims defend our fellow Christians/non-Muslims in other nations rather than side with the same enemy that is killing us in our own lands now?
5 years ago
Not exactly ethnically cleansed. They missed these guys.
5 years ago
Reply to
ace wheeler
Why are the extras from Harry Potter movie set wearing their costumes in Serbia?
5 years ago
Liberals are DERANGED. Let’s not forget Bill Clinton is a WAPIST!! Secret Service agents must be stupid to protect a wapist and deranged communist.
What can I say about the dumb ass peanut farmer? He too is also deranged. Looks EBIL in his old age. The satanic eyes of hatred of America.
Why America do you put in satanic pagan Demoncraps as your Kings??? Even as the Mouslem pagan sodomite Nerogro.
5 years ago
The Clintons first betrayed the Christians and then the Jews in exchange for hundreds of millions from their Muslim masters.
5 years ago
This article reminds me of northern Syria, where the Kurds helped us, with removing ISIS (supposedly), and now Trump is talking about removing our troops from there, leaving the Kurds without any defense at all, from Turkey, who wants to kill them all.
5 years ago
Reply to
Joan C.
The U.S. has got no business defending any of those countries half a word away. I know U.S. usually abides by Judeo-Christian principals, since the Founders agreed about it(Incidentally, the U.S. is not a nation of immigrants. All the signatories to Decl. of Ind. were born here , but one, a Brit). So we’re generally generous etc. It’s carrying that too far to be in wars not ours.
5 years ago
We must recognize that what is expected of citizens is not just that they don’t kill you when you’re not a Muhammadist, but that they fight against the injustice that is the unjust Muhammad-law, war & tyranny.
There are for example Africans are enslaved, castrated, divorced, beaten & killed today in Saudi Arabia & enslaved in the UAE, Oman, Yemen, Kuwait, Lebanon, Bahrain, North-Sudan, Libya (surge), Algeria (surge), Mauritania (20 percent), Niger, Mali, Somalia, Nigeria in emulation of unjust Muhammad who started the global African slave-trade by saying his unproven deity had turned Africans black so Africans’ descendants would be slaves to Arabs & Turks.
Unjust Muhammad burned people for not praying, started the global African slave trade, crucified critics, commanded the lifelong torture of clitodirectomy, forced theism on anyone, raped, tortured, declared war on atheists, Jews & all other Non-muhammadists & ‘kissed’ penises of boys & sucked boys’ tongues & lips (see Wikiislam). He is not a role model the world needs, rather the bad example to learn from.
5 years ago
Both Carter a d Clinton helped to cause many of the Muslim problem the world has today
5 years ago
Serge Trifkovic, in his outstanding book The Sword of the Prophet writes that:
Acting Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger made it clear that a goal in Bosnia was to mollify the Muslim world and to counter any perception of an anti-Muslim bias regarding American policies in Iraq.
So we joined the Jihad against the Serbs in order to get the Muslims to like us.
5 years ago
Whoa TL;DR
5 years ago
But how many percent of the mahometans in Europe are from Bosnia-Herzegovina?
5 years ago
They all need to return to Christianity, that would help settle many differences between them.
