Documents

New Muallim is a quarterly magazine that deals with problems in the field of pedagogy and education. It is issued by the Ilmiyya society.

RAISU-L-ULAMA - (biography)

CABINET OF RAISU-L-ULAMA

RAISU-L-ULAMA: THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY

RAISU-L-ULAMA: FROM TITLE TO SERVICE

MENSHURA

     The Takvim is the almanac and official calendar of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and consists of a series of texts and a calendar with all the official holidays, important religious dates, as well as exact times of the daily prayers. The Takvim is issued once a year, and is published by the Riyasat of the Islamic Community.

Our history
     In late 1933, the Supreme Office of the Islamic Community in Belgrade decided to issue a calendar- taqwim for the hijri year 1352-1353 i.e. for the year 1934. Until 1942, the Takvim was published by the Islamic Community Supreme Office. These issues were published in three alphabets - the Latin, Cyrillic and Arabic text- in one issue.
     From 1943 to 1948, the Takvim was published by the Hajji Ahmed Kujundžić Bookstore. In 1949 and 1950, it was published as an addendum to the official Gazette of the Islamic Community, and constituted a calendar with Ramadhan prayer and meal times for several years.
     From 1951, the Supreme Islamic Office for the former Yugoslavia conceded the publication of the Takvim to the newly-established Ilmija (Religious Servants) Association. It is, in fact, from this time that texts and articles were published in the Takvim alongside the actual calendar, which made the Takvim a unique annual review.  
      As of 1997, the Takvim has been published solely by the Riyasat of the Islamic Community, based in Sarajevo. Every issue of the Takvim has contained a calendar, either as part of the magazine or as a special supplement.

  Address: Preporod – Islamic Informative Newspaper, 17 Zelenih beretki Street, 71000 Sarajevo
    Tel:
    ++387 33 / 664-493
    Fax:
    ++387 33 / 663-690  
    Web: www.preporod.com

     The Preporod is the informative newsletter of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is published by the Riyasat, is issued bimonthly in Sarajevo, and is distributed throughout the territory of the Islamic Community, both within Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad.
      The aim of Preporod is to provide the community with all the important information relating to the activities of the offices and institutions of the Islamic Community, as well as to the activities of its leaders, announcements of activities in the jamats, madjlises, muftis, current news regarding Muslims, and other issues of interest to Islam and Muslims, as well as to provide information on current events in the Muslim world.
     Preporod plays an important role in the Islamic Community, and among the Muslim population as a whole. Many Muslims, as a tradition, consider Preporod as their religious magazine, and subscribe to and read it regularly.  
    The magazine was first published in 1970.  
    Its editor-in-chief is Aziz Kadribegović. 

Address: 2 Isa-bega Ishakovića Street, 71000 Sarajevo
                Tel/Fax: 535 255         
 
     The Heralds the official newsletter of the Riyasat of the Islamic Community, and is published every two months. The Herald publishes the Islamic Community’s official documents, such as decisions, conclusions of meetings of the Riyasat and of the Assembly, regulations, decrees regarding the appointment of imams and muftis, the appointments of presidents of various facilities and educational institutions, reports, announcements, annual reports on the activities of the Riyasat, minutes from the Riyasat meetings and Assemblies etc.
    All original writings in the Herald are published with a short summary in English and Arabic. Furthermore, the current Hutba, other topics, as well as reviews of new books or journals are regular components of every issue.
     The Herald’s first issue was published in January 1993. The Herald was launched by the Supreme Office of the Islamic Community in Belgrade, and came out regularly until 1945. After a five year pause, the magazine was re-launched in 1950. Publication was once again stopped during the war, in 1993, but was reinstituted, and has been published regularly from the beginning of 1994 to the present day.
      The Herald’s Editor-in-charge is Mehmedalija Hadžić.

THE HERALD
    
Address: 2 Isa-bega Ishakovića Street, 71000 Sarajevo
                Tel/Fax: 535 255         
 
     The Heralds the official newsletter of the Riyasat of the Islamic Community, and is published every two months. The Herald publishes the Islamic Community’s official documents, such as decisions, conclusions of meetings of the Riyasat and of the Assembly, regulations, decrees regarding the appointment of imams and muftis, the appointments of presidents of various facilities and educational institutions, reports, announcements, annual reports on the activities of the Riyasat, minutes from the Riyasat meetings and Assemblies etc.
    All original writings in the Herald are published with a short summary in English and Arabic. Furthermore, the current Hutba, other topics, as well as reviews of new books or journals are regular components of every issue.
     The Herald’s first issue was published in January 1993. The Herald was launched by the Supreme Office of the Islamic Community in Belgrade, and came out regularly until 1945. After a five year pause, the magazine was re-launched in 1950. Publication was once again stopped during the war, in 1993, but was reinstituted, and has been published regularly from the beginning of 1994 to the present day.
      The Herald’s Editor-in-charge is Mehmedalija Hadžić.
 

PREPOROD
  Address: Preporod – Islamic Informative Newspaper, 17 Zelenih beretki Street, 71000 Sarajevo
    Tel:
    ++387 33 / 664-493
    Fax:
    ++387 33 / 663-690  
    Web:

     The Preporod is the informative newsletter of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is published by the Riyasat, is issued bimonthly in Sarajevo, and is distributed throughout the territory of the Islamic Community, both within Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad.
      The aim of Preporod is to provide the community with all the important information relating to the activities of the offices and institutions of the Islamic Community, as well as to the activities of its leaders, announcements of activities in the jamats, madjlises, muftis, current news regarding Muslims, and other issues of interest to Islam and Muslims, as well as to provide information on current events in the Muslim world.
     Preporod plays an important role in the Islamic Community, and among the Muslim population as a whole. Many Muslims, as a tradition, consider Preporod as their religious magazine, and subscribe to and read it regularly.  
    The magazine was first published in 1970.  
    Its editor-in-chief is Aziz Kadribegović.  

THE TAKVIM
     The Takvim is the almanac and official calendar of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and consists of a series of texts and a calendar with all the official holidays, important religious dates, as well as exact times of the daily prayers. The Takvim is issued once a year, and is published by the Riyasat of the Islamic Community.

Our history
     In late 1933, the Supreme Office of the Islamic Community in Belgrade decided to issue a calendar- taqwim for the hijri year 1352-1353 i.e. for the year 1934. Until 1942, the Takvim was published by the Islamic Community Supreme Office. These issues were published in three alphabets - the Latin, Cyrillic and Arabic text- in one issue.
     From 1943 to 1948, the Takvim was published by the Hajji Ahmed Kujundžić Bookstore. In 1949 and 1950, it was published as an addendum to the official Gazette of the Islamic Community, and constituted a calendar with Ramadhan prayer and meal times for several years.
     From 1951, the Supreme Islamic Office for the former Yugoslavia conceded the publication of the Takvim to the newly-established Ilmija (Religious Servants) Association. It is, in fact, from this time that texts and articles were published in the Takvim alongside the actual calendar, which made the Takvim a unique annual review.  
      As of 1997, the Takvim has been published solely by the Riyasat of the Islamic Community, based in Sarajevo. Every issue of the Takvim has contained a calendar, either as part of the magazine or as a special supplement.

NEW MUALLIM

New Muallim is a quarterly magazine that deals with problems in the field of pedagogy and education. It is issued by the Ilmiyya society.

Gazi Husrev Bey's Library 

Adress:
THE GHAZI HUSRAW BEG LIBRARY
Hamdije Kreševljakovica 58
71000 Sarajevo - Bosnia & Herzegovina
Tel.: 033/658-143, 264-960(1,2)
Fax: 033/205-525
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: http://www.ghbibl.com.ba

Gazi Husrev Bey's Library in Sarajevo was founded in 1537, together with a school (madrasah), six years after Gazi Husrev Bey, the Ottoman Governor of Bosnia at the time, had established the oldest higher education institution in Sarajevo for teaching of Sufi philosophy (hanikah). In his endowment charter (vakufnama) about the construction of the madrasah, the benefactor requested that "... whatever was left from the funds for the construction, it should be used for a purchase of good books, which would be utilized in the mentioned madrasah, for those who would read them and for those who are involved in science to copy from those books". For this reason, this library is considered to be the first and oldest cultural institution of the Bosniaks.

The Library remained within the Kurshumlija Madrasah until 1863 when, due to the lack of space, it was reallocated to a larger room built next to the Gazi Husrev Bey's Mosque. It remained there until 1935 when it was moved again because of the large quantity of books in its collections. Its new location was in the building in front of the Imperial (Careva) Mosque. It was there until the beginning of the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 when the safety reasons urged to be transferred to several, more secure locations in the City.

The basic collections of the Library consist of manuscripts in Arabic, Turkish and Persian. They amount to 10,000 codices, which makes this Library one of the largest in Europe. It is well known throughout the world. The manuscripts came from various parts of the Islamic world, most particularly from big and renowned centers of culture and science such as Istanbul, Mecca, Medina, Cairo and Baghdad. A considerable number of these manuscripts originated in Bosnian towns and villages where many Bosniaks-Moslems wrote original works or copied the books by other authors from all, then known scientific disciplines.

The complete book collections became larger because many individuals endowed or donated books to the Library. Sometimes the whole private libraries were given as a gift. A number of manuscripts and other valuable books, as well as several private collections, were purchased by the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina for this Library.
The overall library holdings today is 60,000 units. Apart from the already mentioned manuscripts' collections, there are other holdings of printed books, periodicals and historical documents in three Oriental languages, then in Bosnian and in some other European languages . The periodicals' funds keep the oldest newspapers and magazines printed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, whereas the archives hold documents related to the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period of the Ottoman rule. It also has an important collection of 1,400 vakufnamas, and 86 sigils (court records and protocols) from the Sharia Court in Sarajevo. It should be mentioned that all the collection in the Library were preserved in the course of the last war. Bearing in mind the level of devastation and destruction of the Bosniak cultural heritage, the Library's holdings represent today almost the only, and therefore unavoidable, source for research of the history and cultural heritage of the Bosniaks and Islamic studies.

The basic functions of the Library are acquisition, cataloguing, processing, keeping and offering the collections for use in scientific and research purposes for anybody involved in research of these disciplines.

Address: Reisa Dzemaludina Čauevića br. 2, 7100 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Tel. : 033/200-355 i 033/206-037.

The council of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina brought the Decision to establish the Waqf Fund Office in Sarajevo with the specifications of its rights and duties, as the legitimate successor of the Waqf Fund Office that was closed down in 1958.

Director of the Waqf Head Office: Nezim Halilović Muderris
Important functions of the Waqf Head Office:
- undertaking of activities for the protection of waqf property on the territory of whole Bosnia and Herzegovina and diaspora and affirmation of the waqf as lasting property,
- establishing new waqfs through the means of real estate, personal estate and recourses, and issuing vakufnamas to the waqifs.
- offering legal assistance to majlises of the Islamic Community in connection with waqf's property,
- taking legal actions for protection of waqf property in relevant national courts and international legal institutions,
- finding the most acceptable tenants and managing the procedures for waqf's property leasing,
- supervising and observing legitimacy of the procedures of waqfs' transformation (exchanging of waqf's real estate for other real estate and sales of waqf's real estate with the purpose of purchasing other real estate on behalf of waqf, etc.),
- appointing of mutevelli and supervision of majlises in waqf's property management,
- observing of activities of the Government and Parliament in the proceeding for drawing draft of the Restitution Law, and so on.

FUND Bošnjaci

Fund Bošnjaci, established by the Waqf's Head Office, has been functioning as a division of Waqf's Head Office since April 16th, 2001.
Program aims of the Fund Bošnjaci:
granting scholarships to pupils, students and post-graduate students,
other programs in field of education, publishing and printing, cultural and sport activities, programs that contribute to spiritual and economic development of Bosniaks.

Address: Ulica Mudželiti veliki 21, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mutevelija Vakufa: Mustafa Vatrenjak, dipl.ing
Tel: (++387 33) 534 - 375 i 236 - 030; Fax: (033) 237- 099
www.vakuf-gazi.ba , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ADDRESS: Zelenih beretki 17, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
tel: +387 33 532 255
fax: +387 33 441 800
e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.elkalem.ba

Selim Jarkoč, director
El-Kalem, as the special department of the Riyasat of the Islamic Community for promotion of idea and culture of Islam in the Balkans, was established in 1973, as publishing house. The publishing house was titled El-Kalem, meaning pen (it is also the title of 68th surah of the Qur'an), in 1998.
Since then it developed and nowadays it is one of the biggest publishing houses in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the biggest publisher of the Islamic literature in whole region. The total production of El-Kalem exceeds five millions printed copies and more than six hundreds titles.
Although it is primarily publisher of the theological subjects El-Kalem also printed books related to cultural inheritance, science, philosophy, art and literature, thus reflecting the very nature of Islam as a way of life in all its diversity, Islam that is not the religion in the sense of Western conception of the term.
Besides publications of authors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, reputable translations of eminent writers and the works of world literature were published, especially of Muslim authors, from the East and from the West, from Arabic, Turkish, English, German, French, Persian and Spanish languages, as well as some translations of the works of Bosnian authors into one of these languages.

Address: Isa-bega Ishakovića 2, 71000 Sarajevo
Tel./fax: 446 447, fax: 446 905
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www. rijaset.ba

Director: Amir Hodžić.
Muslim Information and News Agency (MINA), as a part of the Islamic Community, informs public about activities and events in the Islamic Community, and spreads relevant information in connection with Islam and Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Agency ensures information through the offices and services of the Islamic Community, imams and muftis.
MINA plays a role of sending out the information about important activities in the Islamic Community and its institutions and about the situation of the Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to radio and television stations, daily newspapers and other newspapers agencies. It makes available to public all reisu-l-ulama's hutbas, his Eid and Ramadan massages and hutbas and the information about his official meetings and visits.
MINA organizes press conferences for all the important events and jubilees in the Islamic Community. MINA also mediates in organizing the interviews of reisu-l-ulama and other dignitaries of the Islamic Community for local and international Medias.
MINA follows daily press in B&H and some foreign press and selects and archives some summaries, too.

71000 Sarajevo, Street Bulevar Mese Selimovica 85 (In "Istiqlal" Mosque Otoka)
Tel. +387-33-459-780

Fax +387-33-459-700
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

On proposal of Reisul-ulama Dr. Mustafa Ceric, Council of Islamic Community, at meeting on 1994., brought decision about establishing professional service named Center for Islamic Architecture CIA, placed in Sarajevo, and started with activities on August, 1995.
Kemal Zukic nominated for Director of CIA, like renowned engineer of architecture from Sarajevo, who has a big experience in that science, with three more co-operators: Fatima Sisic, Architect also, Magbula Porobic, assistant of architecture and Mela Mlivo like secretary.

Major tasks of activities and programme of CIA working are different and numerous, as follows:

1. The Center will make a record of all the buildings and real estates of the Islamic Community, which have been donated and built by the benefactors Bosnia´s, and which both Yugoslavs tried to devastate and destroy during past 100 years. It means to make evidence and registration all Islamic buildings in Bosnia & Herzegovina, with registration cards and basic datas.

2. A special attention will be given to the recording and classifying of the Bosnia cultural monuments with co-operation with other corresponding Institutes.

3. A precise survey of war damage will be done on all the buildings and especially on the monuments so that we can claim for war reparations from the aggressors Serbia & Montenegro and Croatia as well.

4. An urgent action for the temporary conservation against further decay of the damaged buildings which can be caused by atmospheric changes, what appears is a big problem having in mind the climate of Bosnia (rain, snow and frost).

5. Planning and defining priorities and getting down to realization of the final protection of the cultural monuments.

6. Planning of the future permanent maintenance and conservation of the significant buildings, Bosnia inheritance cultural monuments.

7. Organizing, planning, collecting money, drawing up the plans, defining priorities, making contracts and the follow up of the realization of the construction of the Islamic Community different buildings such as: masdzids, mosques, medresas, mektebs, humanitarian facilities etc. In that purpose make contact with donators and Masjids.

8. The creation of a complete INDOC (informative-documentary center) with all relevant data about the buildings and computerized processing.

9. The establishing of the close relations with similar institutions in all Islamic countries and the exchange of literature and knowledge in this field.

10. Publishing of brochures and books in this field, in Bosnian language as well as translating of important paragraphs from Bosnian into world´s languages and vice versa.
After war CIA should outgorw to Institute for Islamic Architecture with about 50 employers and then would be able to respond to all requirements, but still no.

THE AGENCY FOR HALAL QUALITY CERTIFICATION

THE MENSHURA* (Menšura)

The menshura, in Bosnian practice, is an official document which confirms that an individual is a legally appointed i.e. selected Raisu-l-ulama, and that, as such, he is authorised to issue similar authorisation under the Shariyaa law to other Islamic officers subordinate to him. The term "menšura" entered Bosniak Islamic administration through Ottoman institutions, while the Ottoman themselves adopted it from earlier Muslim states.

In Muslim diplomacy, the term "menshur" (derived from the Arabic word "neshere") signifies "a confirmation of a decree, or an act of appointment" [1]. The "menshura" was associated with different professions and activities in different Muslim states. During the Fatimi era, for instance, lecturers were appointed through the issuing of the menshura, while the same was applied to the appointment of senior Islamic officials, dignitaries and governors of provinces during the rule of the Ayyubids.[2] Renowned Hanafi lawyer el-Hasan Ibn El-Mensur El-Fergani (died hijreti 592) mentions the use of the menshura as a document by which khadiyas were appointed.[3]

In the Ottoman state, the term "menshura" was used simultaneously with the terms "berat" and "misal", with the meaning "letters of appointment".[4] Regional muftis, including those that worked in Bosnia, were appointed by means of a menshura. In international agreements that regulated the position of Muslims in the Balkans after 1912-1913, the term was used for documents by which the Skeiku-l-islam permitted the work of local Islamic leaders (grand or head muftis) after the selection process, or after the leaders were appointed in their national boundaries[5]. Such is also the use of the term in the Autonomous Statute of 1909, as well in all later documents or practices in the Bosniak community.

In the Bosniak community, the text of the menshura changed during the last century. Generally speaking, earlier menshuras were textually more similar to Ottoman influences, whereas the later menshuras, especially those issued during the communist era, suffered significant modification, a step that, in a way, reflected the marginalisation of Islam and its role in the lives of Bosniaks.

At present, the menshura is delivered to newly selected Raisu-l-ulama at an official ceremony and in the presence of the ulama, members of the Community, representatives of the state authority, dignitaries of other faiths etc. A special place among the attendees of the ceremony belongs to supreme representatives of Islamic institutions from around the world. The presence of such an imposing number of "witnesses to the act" (shuhud al-hal) is considered as an acknowledgement of the legitimacy of their leadership among Bosniaks, as well as a confirmation of the fact the members of the Bosniak Islamic community also belong to the universal Ummet of Islam.

*This text was taken from "Istorijski razvoj institucije Rijaseta" (The Historical Development of the Institution of the Riyasat", edited by Omer Nakičević, the Riyasat of the Islamic Community, Sarajevo 1996, pp. 56-58.

[1] W. Bjorkman, "Manshur", EI, vol. V, 246-248.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Fetava Siradžijje, vol. 3, 36.

[4] I.H. Uzuncarsili, op. cit., n.I, 78.

[5] W. Bjorkman, op. cit., 248.

DECLARATION OF EUROPEAN MUSLIMS

DEKLARACIJA EVROPSKIH MUSLIMANA

إعلان المسلمين الأوروبيين

Déclaration des Musulmans d'Europe

DEKLARATION EUROPÄISCHER MUSLIME

Expressing the sense of the European Muslims regarding the attack in New York in September 2001, the massacre in Madrid in March 2004, and the bomb explosion in London in July 2005.

Whereas on 11^th September 2001 thousands of men and women who had worked at the World Trade Center in New York were killed by a terrorist attack, and on 11^th March 2004 hundreds of people who had traveled by a train in Madrid were massacred, and on 7^th July 2005 in London many innocent passengers were victims of bomb explosions in London, and whereas all these acts of violence against humanity have been prescribed to "Islamic terrorism";

Whereas following the New York attack, the Madrid massacre and the London bombing the European Muslims live under the heavy pressure of a collective guilt for "Islamic terrorism" which is constantly being propagated by some politicians and media;

Whereas the European Muslims believe that there is no collective guilt, but an individual responsibility;

Whereas the European Muslims suffer from islamophobia due to an irresponsible coverage of the Muslim issues in Europe by some media;

THE COMPLETE DECLARATION CAN BE DOWNLOADED IN FIVE LANGUAGES IN .DOC FORMAT (Right click > Save as):

Declaration_eng

Deklaracija_bos

Deklaracija_ar

Deklaracija_fr

Deklaracija_de