Raisu-l-ulema Husein ef. Kavazovic

Dr Husein Kavazović - Biography

Dr Husein Kavazović is the current Raisu-l-Ulama (Grand Mufti) of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was born to Hasan and Saima on 3 July 1964 in Jelovče Selo near Gradačac.

He completed his primary education in his home village, and then graduated from the Gazi Husrev-Bey's Madrasah in Sarajevo in 1983. He studied at the Faculty of Sharia at Al-Azhar University from 1985 to 1990. He earned his Master's and PhD degrees in Sharia law at the Faculty of Islamic Sciences in Sarajevo.

He served as an imam, khatib and muallim in mosques in Srebrenik and Gradačac. From 1992 to 2012, he was the Mufti of Tuzla, and he became a member of the Council of the Islamic Community of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina before the aggression against B&H started.

Soon after he was appointed the Mufti of Tuzla, upon returning from Zagreb, he and nine other members of the delegation of Tuzla County were captured in Konjic and sent to a concentration camp led by HVO (Croatian Defense Council). After seven months, he was free again and he returned to Tuzla.

As the Mufti of Tuzla, he made crucial contributions to the reconstruction and activities of the Mufti Unit of Tuzla and Behram-bey's Madrasah, introducing Islamic religious education into curricula of primary and secondary schools, and renewal of the Hikmet Periodical. During this time, he was also the president of the School Board of the Berham-bey's Madrasah in Tuzla for several consecutive terms. He made significant contributions to the building of Behram-bey's Library in Tuzla.

He is one of the founders of the Center for Rehabilitation of Addicts to Psychoactive Substances in Smoluća near Lukavac, which is the first center of its kind established by the Islamic Community. Together with his associates, he worked to establish and develop the Agency for Halal Quality Certification of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He actively participated in the reconstruction and building of dozens of mosques in Bosansko Podrinje and Bosanska Posavina. At the same time, he actively helped to provide care and homes for refugees in East Bosnia during the aggression, and then rebuild the infrastructure of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina and help Muslims return to the villages and cities they were exiled from. He was also a member and President of the Advisory group for defining the contents of the project documentation for the Potočari –Srebrenica Memorial Center.

During his mandate as the Raisu-l-Ulama, the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina has introduced changes to its Constitution and significant reforms in many aspects of the Community's activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, homeland countries and the diaspora. He has maintained constant contacts with believers, on all significant occasions, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, homeland countries and the diaspora. He has often visited capital cities of not only Muslim countries, but countries in the West as well, where he spoke to highest religious, academic and political officials. He has been awarded numerous titles, including those of an honorary citizen and man of the year. As the Mufti of Tuzla and the Raisu-l-Ulama, he has participated in numerous conferences in Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad. He has authored several books and studies in different fields of Islamic sciences, especially Islamic and comparative law.

His published books include:

1. Two Codifications of Sharia Family Law (Sarajevo: El-Kalem, 2012.)
2. Codification of Sharia Civil Law according to Hanafi School of Thought (Sarajevo: El-Kalem, 2019.)
3. Natural Law in Mu’tazilah (Sarajevo: El-Kalem, 2019.)
4. Translation and commentary for: Muḥammad Qadrī paša, Murshid al-Ḥayrān: Codification of Sharia Property Law (Sarajevo: El-Kalem, 2019.)

Some of his scientific and research papers published in scientific journals are:

1. „Political Government and Codification of Sharia Law “, Znakovi vremena, No. 57-58, Sarajevo: 2012.
2. „ A Short Review Of The Codification Of Hanefi Juristic Doctrine And Ottoman Qanun: Formation And Development “, Novi Muallim, No. 51, Sarajevo: 2012.
3. „Political Power and Codes: Removing the Sacral from Sharia Law and Removing Religion from State Institutions in A Muslim State “, Glasnik Rijaseta IZ u BiH, Vol. LXXV, January-February, March-April, Sarajevo: 2013.
4. „Capitulations: Changes in the Sharia-Law Doctrine of International Law“, Glasnik Rijaseta IZ u BiH, Vol. LXXV, May-June, Sarajevo: 2013.
5. „The Birth of Constitutionalism in Muslim Countries in the 19th Century: Case Studies of Tunisia, the Ottoman Empire and Egypt“, Glasnik Rijaseta IZ u BiH, Vol. LXXV July-August, Sarajevo: 2013.
6. „Introducing Secular Civil Code in Egypt: National Civil Code of 1883 (Qānūn al-Madanī al-Ahlī)“, Anali GHB, Book XXXVII, Sarajevo: 2016.
7. „ Muslim Identity: Challenges It Faces in Today’s Europe “, Novi Muallim, No. 73, Sarajevo: 2018.
8. „ Basic Principles of Natural Law in Mu’tazilah: Sources of Natural-Legal Ethics“, Znakovi vremena, Year XXI, br. 79, Sarajevo: 2018.
9. „ Basic Principles of Mu‘tazilah Theological and Legal Teaching “, Anali GHB, Knjiga XXXVIII, Sarajevo: 2017.
10. „ Basics of Personal Status and Public Law in Mu‘Tazilah (Rationalist School of Islamic Theology) “, Anali GHB, Knjiga, XXXIX, Sarajevo: 2018.
11. „Rights of the Other to Recognition in Islamic Sources and Tradition“, Oslobođenje, Pogledi, 24 March 2018; the paper is also published in the book: Omer Ibrahimagić, Oporuka Bosni (Sarajevo: Monos, 2019.)

He is married to his wife Fatima and has three daughters: Saima, Kadira and Emina, and grandson Muhammed.