In two recent columns [www.familysecuritymatters.org/global.php?id=98045 and www.familysecuritymatters.org/global.php?id=994693] for FSM, the antidote to the MSM, I described the late pro-Arab turn by the Bosnian Muslim chief cleric Mustafa Ceric, who last week visited Washington to expatiate on “the art of tolerance.”

Bosnian Muslims and the friends of Bosnian Islam are alarmed at the sudden abandonment by Ceric of his stated goal – to make the Muslims of Bosnia-Hercegovina a model indigenous, moderate, European Islamic community. Such an Islam would be capable of leading the continent’s Muslims, many of them immigrants, toward mutual respect with believers in other religions and legitimate loyalty to the non-Muslim authorities that rule over most of them.

Some of us imagined that Ceric would use a lecture at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the American capital to discuss the lessons of Bosnian interfaith history – including the exemplary history of Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Jewish cooperation as documented in my 2005 book Sarajevo Rose. But he did not. Rather, he delivered himself of a gassy, meandering, name-dropping discourse that said nothing whatever. He reviewed the history of the human intellect from the Greeks on, seldom elucidating citations that could have been, and probably were, taken from a dictionary of quotations. All his statements blandly reaffirmed the need for tolerance and understanding, as if he were describing different cloud formations on a summer day.

Ceric’s lecture on tolerance would not have done credit to a middle school commencement. He proudly mentioned, as if it had the slightest meaning, his appearance not long ago at Davos, the hot-air energy plant for the most narcissistic elements in the Western business, political, and entertainment elite. A European journalist who covered Davos five times told me Ceric’s remarks were a typical Davos speech, completely lacking in substance. But Ceric also partook of a style familiar to anybody who has spent time in a Communist country, like the Yugoslavia of which Bosnia-Hercegovina was once part. He delivered a standard Communist party-congress address, composed of meaningless rhetoric.

In the brief question period, which Ceric seemed to have headed off by his endless declamations, the Bosnian chief cleric was politely asked about the infiltration into the Balkans of violent Wahhabis, agents of the ultra-fundamentalist official Islamic sect in Saudi Arabia, that inspires al-Qaida. He was also asked about the assertions he made last year about the European character of Bosnian Islam.
Ceric was obviously nervous and reacted to queries about Wahhabism with a flushed and perspiring mien. He referred to “so-called Wahhabism,” protested incoherently that the question irritated him, accused his critics of claiming all Bosnian Muslims are Wahhabis, argued that the whole matter is the pretext for a new war against Bosnia, dismissed the Wahhabis as “mosquitoes,” and declared that Wahhabism is a Western invention.

And that was only half of it. The rest was confused, disoriented chatter. A Saudi woman present was indignant that Ceric referred only to “so-called” Wahhabism, but was prevented from questioning him. I, for one, have never argued that any but a handful of Bosnian Muslims are Wahhabis, and I have defended the Bosnian cause for two decades.

Simultaneous with his Washington visit, which did no credit to Balkan Muslims, it became clear why Ceric has made his switch from a European to a pro-Arab stance. Two days before his arrival in the U.S., Sarajevo played rotating host to a fundamentalist Sunni clerical body with the somewhat outrageous name of the European Council for Fatwas and Research (ECFR). ECFR is headed by a Qatari cleric, Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who has been barred from the U.S. Al-Qaradawi pretends to be moderate but supports suicide terrorism.

ECFR claims to be a legal body representing European Muslims but Ceric has been its lone, token indigenous European member. Al-Qaradawi is certainly not European, even though ECFR is strangely headquartered in Dublin. Al-Qaradawi is often described as the so-called spiritual guide of the fundamentalist Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. ECFR has included 33 members, four of them Saudi, although few Saudis live in Europe – the rest, aside from Ceric, comprising 12 from Arab and African countries, plus Pakistan, while the others represent immigrant communities, mainly Arab, in Western Europe. Russia alone has more Muslims than many Arab states, and is unrepresented.
ECFR members are, it seems, upset by claims that they want to use the Bosnians to advance a radical agenda. The website www.islamonline.com reported the statement of Sheikh Husain Halawa, the current ECFR secretary general: “The ECFR secretary general denied charges that the organization is hijacked by Arabs to the extent of alienating some European Muslims.” But since he is among the hijackers, why should he admit the truth?

The reality of the situation was revealed by none other than Saudi cleric Salman al-Awda, a Wahhabi bigot known in the desert kingdom for his support of Osama bin Laden and of Sunni terrorism in Iraq. During the ECFR junket to Sarajevo, according to his website, www.Islamtoday.net, Al-Awda visited Bosnia. In a rather amusing example of Bosnian trickery – a phenomenon as old as the Bosnian hills – Al-Awda was shunted off to speak at a madrassa in Tuzla, a city that happens to be known for its enduring socialist (and therefore ultrasecularist) sympathies, and the site of a U.S. military base. Al-Awda came to lecture the Bosnians, native Europeans, on how to be Muslim the Bedouin way. He was unfortunately introduced by the Mufti of Tuzla, Hussein Kazazovic.

The Arab colonialization of an authentically European Islamic community in the Balkans would be tragic and doubtless lead to terrorism and reprisals. If there is a bright spot in this depressing picture it is that the cream of Bosnian Muslim intellectuals, as well as the ordinary Muslim folk living in villages and attending local mosques, loathe the interlopers and will do everything they must to resist them.

A Bosnian Muslim scholar told me the issue is simple: Arab vs. non-Arab Islam. As it was under Yugoslav Communism, only the opportunistic, self-serving, and superficial, petty elite of bureaucrats and vacant intellectuals are ready to sell out Bosnian Islam for advantage and position. But as with the Communists, they and their foreign patrons must be defeated.

U veoma uznemiravajućem preokretu događaja, Arapi su oteli vođstvo domaće, umjerene Evropske Islamske zajednice u Bosni, koja je mogla biti najveća nada Evrope za pokazivanje da Islam moze koegzistirati sa modernim svijetom. Sarađujući urednik FSM-a Stephen Schwartz detaljno opisuje ovu zabrinjavajuću pojavu o kojoj svi Amerikanci trebaju da budu svjesni.

Arapska otmica Bosanskih Muslimana

Autor: Stephen Schwartz

U dvije nedavne rubrike [www.familysecuritymatters.org/global.php?id=98045 i www.familysecuritymatters.org/global.php?id=994639] za FSM, koja je protuotrov za MSM, opisao sam zadnji pro-Arapski preokret glavnog Bosanskog Muslimanskog vjerodostojnika Mustafe Cerića, koji je prošle sedmice posjetio Vašington kako bi razglabao o „umjetnosti tolerancije.“
Bosanski Muslimani i prijatelji Bosanskog Islama su uznemireni Cerićevim naglim napuštanjem svog izjavljeng cilja – da napravi Muslimane Bosne i Hercegovine modelom autohtone, umjerene, Evropske Islamske zajednice. Takav Islam bi bio sposoban voditi Muslimane cijelog kontinenta, od kojih su većina imigranti, ka uzajamnom poštovanju sa vjernicima drugih religija i legitimnoj vjernosti ne-Muslimanskim autoritetima koji imaju moć nad većinom njih.

Neki od nas smo zamišljali da bi Cerić upotrijebio svoj govor na Woodrow Wilsonovom Medjunarodnom Centru za Naučnike u Američkoj prijestolnici da razgovara o lekcijama Bosanske međuvjerske istorije – uključujući i uzornu istoriju Bosanskih Muslimana i sarađivanja Bosanskih Jevreja koja je dokumentirana u mojoj knjizi Sarajevo Rose, izdatoj 2005. godine. Ali on to nije učinio. Radije, dao je maglovito, krivudavo, uvredljivo predavanje koje nije reklo apsolutno ništa. Prepričao je istoriju ljudskog intelekta počevši od Grka, vrlo rijetko razjašnjavajući citate koji su mogli biti, a najvjerovatnije jesu, preuzeti iz zbirke citata. Sve njegove tvrdnje bezočno su potvrdile potrebu za tolerancijom i razumjevanjem, kao da je opisivao različite formacije oblaka tokom ljetnog dana.

Cerićev govor o toleranciji ne bi mogao služiti na čast promociji u osnovnoj školi. Ponosno je naveo, kao da to ima najmanju vrijednost, svoj nedavni nastup u Davosu, termo-elektrani za naj-narcisoidnije elemente u Zapadnoj eliti biznisa, politike i zabave. Jedan Evropski novinar koji je pisao pet puta o Davosu mi je rekao da su Cerićevi komentari bili tipični Davosov govor, kompletno bez sadržaja. Ali Cerić se isto poslužio stilom koji je poznat bilo kome ko je proveo vrijeme u Komunističkoj zemlji, kao na primjer Jugoslaviji, čiji je dio bila Bosna i Hercegovina. Podnio je standardni govor kongresa Komunističke Partije, koji se sastojao od besmislene retorike.

Tokom vrlo kratkog vremena za pitanja, koje je Cerić započeo svojim beskrajnim deklamacijama, glavnom Bosanskom vjerodostojniku je učtivo bilo postavljeno pitanje o infiltraciji nasilnih Vehabija na Balkan, koji su agenti ultra-fundamentalističke oficijelne Islamske sekte u Saudijskoj Arabiji, koja je inspiracija za Al-Qaidu. Isto tako mu je bilo postavljeno pitanje o tvrdnjama koje je dao prošle godine o Evropskom karakteru Bosanskog Islama.

Cerić je očigledno bio nervozan i na pitanja o Vehabizmu je reagovao sa crvenilom i znojenjem lica. Pozivao se na „takozvani Vehabizam,“ nesuvislo je protestirao da ga je to pitanje iritiralo, optuživao je svoje kritičare da tvrde da su svi Bosanski Muslimani Vehabije, dokazivao je da je cijela ova priča izgovor za novi rat protiv Bosne, odbacivao je Vehabije kao “komarce“ i izjavio je da je Vehabizam izmišljotina Zapada.
To je samo jedan dio. Ostatak je bio zbunjeno, dezorijentisano brbljanje. Prisutna Saudijska žena je bila ogorčena na to da se Cerić pozivao samo na „takozvani Vehabizam,“ ali je bila spriječena da mu postavi pitanja. Ja nikada nisam dokazivao da su bilo koji osim nekoliko Bosanskih Muslimana Vehabije, i branio sam Bosanski cilj već dvije decenije.

Zajedno sa njegovom posjetom Vašingtonu, koja nije uradila nikakvo dobro Balkanskim Muslimanima, postalo je jasno zašto je Cerić napravio zamjenu sa Evropskog na pro-Arapski stav. Dva dana prije njegovog dolaska u Ameriku, Sarajevo je bilo domaćin fundamentalističkom Suni vjerodostojničkom tijelu sa donekle skandaloznim imenom, Evropsko Vijeće za Fetve i Istraživanja (ECFR). ECFR je vođen Katarskim vjerodostojnikom, Jusufom al-Karadavijem, kojem je zabranjen ulaz u Sjedinjene Države. Al-Karadavi se pravi da je umjeren ali podržava samoubilački terorizam.

ECFR tvrdi da je legalno tijelo koje reprezentira sve Evropske Muslimane ali Cerić je bio njegov jedini simbolični, autohtoni Evropski član. Al-Karadavi sigurno nije Evropljanin, iako začudo sjedište ECFR-a je u Dablinu. Al-Karadavi je često opisivan kao takozvani duhovni vodja fundamentalističkog Egipatskog Muslimanskog Bratstva. ECFR je imao 33 člana, od kojih su četiri Saudijci, iako vrlo malo Saudijaca živi u Evropi – ostatak, osim Cerića, se sastoji od 12 iz Arapskih i Afričkih zemalja, plus Pakistan, dok ostali predstavljaju zajednice imigranata, većinom Arapa, u Zapadnoj Evropi. Sama Rusija ima vise Muslimana nego puno Arapskih država, ali je bez predstavnika.
Članovi ECFR-a su, izgleda, uznemireni tvrdnjama da hoće da upotrijebe Bosance da bi unaprijedili radikalni dnevni red. Internet strana www.islamonline.com je objavila izjavu Šejka Husejna Halavija, trenutačnog generalnog sekretara ECFR-a:“Generalni Sekretar ECFR-a odbija optužbe da je organizacija oteta Arapima do nivoa otuđenja nekih od Evropskih Muslimana.“ Ali dok je i on jedan od otmičara, zašto bi prihvatio istinu?

Realnost situacije je otkrivena samim Saudijskim vjerodostojnikom Salmanom al-Avdaom, Vehabijskim dvojnikom koji je poznat u pustinjskom kraljevstvu kao podržavatelj Osame Bin Ladena i Suni terorizma u Iraku. Tokom ECFR skupa u Sarajevu, prema svojoj internet stranici www.islamtoday.net, Al-Avda je bio u Bosni. U prilično zabavnom primjeru Bosanskog varanja – fenomen koji je iste starosti kao Bosanska brda – Al-Avda je bio odveden da održi govor u medresi u Tuzli, gradu koji je slučajno poznat po svojim izdržljivim socijalističkim (stoga ultra-sekularnim) osjećanjima, a usput je lokacija Američke vojne baze. Al-Avda je došao da govori Bosancima, domaćim Evropljanima, kako da budu Muslimani na beduinski način. Nažalost, predstavio ga je tuzlanski Muftija, Husein Kazazović.

Arapska kolonizacija autentično Evropske Islamske zajednice na Balkanu bila bi tragična i nesumnjivo bi vodila ka terorizmu i odmazdi. Ako postoji svijetla tačka u ovoj depresivnoj slici, to je da vrhunac Bosanskih Muslimanskih intelektualaca, kao i običnih Muslimanskih ljudi koji žive u selima i idu u lokalne džamije, ne vole došljake i uradiće sve što mogu da im se suprotstave.

Bosanski Muslimanski naučnik mi je rekao da je problem jednostavan: Arapski versus ne-Arapski Islam. Kako je to bilo za Jugoslovenskog Komunizma, samo oportunistički, samoposluženo i površno, sitna elita birokrata i praznih intelektualaca je spremna da proda Bosanski Islam za napredovanje i položaje. Ali kako je to bilo Komunistima, oni i njihovi strani pokrovitelji moraju biti pobjeđeni.

Close window | Back to the homepage | Previous Bosniak article