High Delegation of Federal Republic of Germany visits Raisu-l-Ulama and Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Raisu-l-ulama of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina Hussein effendi Kavazović received today a high-level delegation from the Federal Republic of Germany, led by Secretary of State at the German Ministry of the Interior, in charge of the German Conference on Islam, Markus Kerber. The German delegation also included Secretary of State Markus Kerber’s personal secretary, Anja Heugel, Chief of the German Conference on Islam Reinhard Busch, assistant in the German Conference on Islam Johannes-Gabriel Goltz, assistant at the Ministry of Education and Research Klaus Schindel, Director of the Academy of Islam in Science and Society at the University of Frankfurt/Main Bekim Agai, and Deputy Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Petra Kochendörfer.

The two delegations discussed the position of the Islamic Community of Bosniaks in Germany and the education of imams in Europe, as well as other forms of cooperation between the IC in BiH and German governmental educational and religious institutions.

Rais Kavazović thanked the guests for the visit and support of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Islamic Community in Germany, but also in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and expressed the commitment of the IC in BiH to work on gaining the status of a public law corporation in Germany and transferring the experience of administering religious issues of Muslims in the European socio-political context.

Kerber emphasized that Germany and its institutions are aware of the importance of the Bosnian experience of living in Islam and that they are willing to strengthen all forms of cooperation that will contribute to the well-being of Muslims as citizens of European countries where they live and work, and that they count on the support of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its institutions.

The delegation of the Islamic Community also included Safet Softić, President of the Council of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dr Osman Kozlić,

Mufti for Europe (excluding homeland countries) and the Head Imam of the Islamic Community of Bosniaks in Germany, Dr Dževad Hodžić, Head of the Directorate for Education and Science, Razim Čolić, Head of the Directorate for External Affairs and the Diaspora (EAD), Dr Dževada Šuško, Head of the Department of International cooperation at EAD Directorate, Muhamed Jugo, expert associate at EAD Directorate, Adem Hasanović, adviser of Mufti for Europe (excluding homeland countries) and Meho Travljanin, President of Berlin Jamaat.

After meeting with Rais Kavazović, the delegation visited the Gazi Husrev-bey Madrasah, the Gazi Husrev Library and the Faculty of Islamic Science. At the Gazi Husrev-bey Madrasah, the delegation was met by Principal Hafidh Dr Mensur ef. Malkić and his staff. The delegation visited the classrooms and talked about the madrasah as a contemporary high school. The director of the Gazi Husrev-bey Library, Dr Osman Lavić, spoke to the guests about the importance of preserving the cultural and historic continuity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the deeply rooted tradition of studying Islam in this region. At the Faculty of Islamic Science, Dean Dr Zuhdija Hasanović and vice deans and professors spoke of the education of imams in a European context, and the experience the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina can share with the rest of Europe.

In 2006, the German Ministry of the Interior established the German Conference on Islam (Deutsche Islamkonferenz, DIK) as a permanent institution dealing with the issue of Islam and Muslims in Germany. The Islamic Community of Bosniaks in Germany is a member of this institution.