The Muslim News
By Betul Iyilik
Dr Mustafa Ceric, Rais al-’Ulama (Supreme Head of the Islamic Community) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), on an official visit to London between September 23 to 26, held meeetings with leaders of various faith groups. On the first day of his visit, Dr Ceric, who was the guest of the Foreign Office, was met by Dr George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury and Canon Richard Marsh, the Archbishop’s Secretary for Ecumenical Affairs. They discussed issues of “mutual interest”. He also met and had dinner with Tom Phillips, Head of Eastern Adriatic Department and Mr Dominic Micklejohn Head of Bosnia Section. On the second day, Mustafa Ceric visited the Bosnia and Herzegovina Islamic Centre in north-west London, and met Imam Fahruddin Hamidovic and representatives of the Bosnian community. Dr Ceric was briefed about the Centre, which was opened two years ago. The activities of the Centre are wide.They include supplementary primary school in the Bosnian language and religious education, humanitarian activities and other community work. The Centre is also a focal point for the Bosnian refugees. The purpose of the meeting was to establish a better link between the Bosnian community in the United Kingdom and the Supreme Islamic Council in BiH. It was agreed that the Centre will become an official Bosnian organisation in the UK. It will also search for a suitable and larger premises that will become the permanent centre for the Bosnian community. At the meeting, Dr Mustafa Ceric discussed the current situation in Bosnia, including the repatriation of the Bosnian refugees, described as “a long term process with a number of problems”. The other part of the meeting was with Yusuf Islam. Dr Ceric thanked, on behalf of the people of Bosnia, the Muslim community in Britain for their help and support. The Rais al-’Ulama added that inspite of the “incredibly difficult years, we are still alive and we are ready to face to the future”. He said that during his visit to South Africa, he was asked whether the suffering of the Bosnians was a punishment from Allah for their sins. Dr Ceric replied:“God does not punish those who are weak, he punishes those who are strong, and I don’t believe that we have committed more sins than the rest of the world or that we are stronger than rest of the world.” He reminded the Muslims world-wide that as Muslims “we need to take care of ourselves and not to wait for some body else to come and rescue you. So it is the time to wake up and accept our responsibilities”. He added that Muslims in the West have to “use the freedom and democracy to participate in the society so that your voice can be heard and it can be helpful to us”. In the afternoon Dr Ceric was the guest of the Calamus Foundation in central London where he briefed the members of the Foundation about the latest situation in Bosnia and summed it up thus: “Bosnia is like a very beautiful lady whose face has been destroyed by hatred and unfortunately I don’t think it will ever be the same as it used to be. What we are doing at the moment is to try to bandage the face. We will perform plastic surgery on the face but she needs a miracle. However I see in the near future that the lady is going to give birth to a new lady who will be more beautiful than her mother.” The Rais al-’Ulama had a dinner engagement with Yusuf Islam where a number of Muslim activists were invited. He recalled his encounter with a Christian priest from Lebanon who asked if the Muslim leadership intended to implement Shari’ah in BiH. “I told him that he was violating my human rights by asking me this question.” Dr Ceric added: “Of course, I am going to apply Shari’ah. People generally consider Islam as beautifull (tourists visit mosques to admire their beauty), this is good. But Islam is first and foremost a religion of Law.” He explained to the priest Islamic political theory. Muslims live in three territories: Dar al-Islam, Dar al-Harb and Dar al-Islah. In the first case, Muslims are obliged to implement Shari’ah. In Dar al-Islam Muslims have peace and security, freedom and dignity. In Dar al-Harb Muslims have no human rights and in Dar al-Islah Muslims implement Islam to the maximum of their ability. BiH comes under the latter category, explained Dr Ceric. “We live under Aqd al-ijtima’ (Contract of Agreement).” He then told the priest that as a dhimmi the Christians can live under Muslim protection. “I wish Christianity had similar laws so that we could be protected - protected against rapes, killings and expulsions, as happened in BiH.” Dr Ceric acknowledged the help given to Bosnia by Muslim governments: “If it wasn’t for the help from the Islamic governments BiH would not have survived.” On the third day of his visit, Dr Ceric went to Islamic Relief World Wide Foundation offices in London. They have been working in BiH since before the invasion by Serbia in 1992. Dr Ceric expressed his admiration for the humanitarian work Islamic Relief undertook during the course of the war and for its continuing efforts through the numerous development projects that have been put into action since the conclusion of the conflict. He said: “Many agencies withdrew their support for the Bosnian people following the Dayton Peace Accord, although it is well known that following a conflict there is still much work to be done and suffering to be endured.” Islamic Relief’s projects include fish farm, medical aid for disabled people, women’s community and training centre and Planaka Goat Project (in Bihac). In the evening, the Rais al-’Ulama met the members of the UK Action Committee on Islamic Affairs at the Central Mosque in Regents Park, London. Dr Ceric asked why was it that now non-Muslims do not want to live with Muslims in Bosnia. “We should examine why they don’t want to live in Muslim environment. Is something wrong with them or with us? If the problem is with them, we shouldn’t worry about it, but if it is with us it means we have to find an answer to solve the problem.” According to Dr Ceric an inter-faith council has been set up in Sarajevo headed By Jacob Finzi, a Bosnian Jew and Cardinal Vinko Puljic, Archbishop of Sarajevo, Ortodox Metropolitan Nikolai of Dabar and Dr Ceric. The aim of the Council is to break down to the barriers between faiths which have been exacerbated by the fighting in Bosnia. The Rais believes that the only way out in the inter-faith dialogue is for Christianity to “develop the idea of recognition” and for Muslims to “develop the idea of tolerance” and “if we swap the ideas then we can meet in the middle of somewhere”. He added that Bosnia, especially Sarajevo, “is still the biggest market for different ideas - Nationalism, Fascism, Democracy and Capitalism. All national religions, political movements, every kind of organisation from the world are there.” He said he was hopeful since the elections and he said the international community, who “were irresponsible before when they waited till Karadjic finished his job”, is now taking its job more seriously. “Fortunately Karadjic did not succeed,” he added. Dr Ceric believed that although the Dayton Accord “was not just”, it did stop the war. There are four conditions essential for the peace process: war criminals should be brought to the War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, freedom of movement should be established, media should be free and refugees should be allowed to return to their homes. On the last day of his visit, Dr Ceric attended a conference at The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, which, The Muslims News was told was "a closed meeting”. Other engagements included meetings at: Maimonides Foundation, London Islamic Cultural Centre, University of Kingston and Interfaith Foundation.