Article twelve:
The Reality of the Genocide
Against Bosnian Muslims
Imam Senad ef. Agic
Mufti of the Bosnian Community in North America
786
All Praise is for Allah, the Lord of all creation, who is without a partner in any nature. And may Allah’s endless blessings be upon the light of His creation, our master Muhammad and upon his purified family and upon all of his noble companions. I ask Allah’s mercy to be rained down upon the successors of the companions, upon the great mujtahid imams, upon the righteous scholars of the religion and upon the virtuous and righteous saints of Allah. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
Allah, Most Glorified, Most High says in the Qur’ân in Sura Ra’ad: "Allah will not change the situation of a people until they change themselves." (Sura XIII Aya’ 11)
The truth of Allah contained in the aya’ I have just recited can be realized in the situation that we view the Muslims in Balkan Europe today. This ayah’s style, brevity and universalism present an everlasting and present warning to everyone who truly submits to Allah and in particular people who are thinking and contemplative of their situation (ulul-al-bab). Implied in that ayah’ from Surah Ra’ad are several causes for the present suffering Muslims endure and perspectives for ameliorating their suffering and entering into the light of the straight path (sirat-ul-mustaqim).
It must be clearly stated and conveyed that very often (if not always) the essence of suffering lies within the Muslims themselves. In the same way or manner the exit from such a state depends on their willingness and ability to change themselves in accordance with the teachings of Islam about the straight path (sirat-ul-mustaqim). (Refer Holy Qur’ân 1:5)
The act of genocide and open aggression against the Muslim Ummah in Bosnia is a reality. We have all been witnesses, either directly or indirectly, to the horrible atrocities enacted against us yet even the victims of it had a difficult time understanding the wisdom of this ayah and thus they had, in many cases, prolonged their own suffering due to an inability to align their behavior with Allah’s command.
A lot of ink, paper and emotions have been spent in so-called analytical texts in almost all languages of the world in order to describe the tragic events in Bosnia and unveil the hypocrisy of Western Democracy. However, with such approaches Qur’ânic diagnosis of the genocide has been obscured. Such an approach -- one of accusing others from our own suffering -- presents a dead end and a misleading interpretation of the events that could befall the rest of the Muslim world unless they purify their deeds and actions through obedience to divine warnings and instruction from their Lord. (Refer Holy Qur’ân 2:129)
The West has never been Democratic toward the Islamic World and the enemies of Islam and their goals are well known to us. One such goal is the destruction and removal of Muslim minorities that exist amongst them. The strongest proof of this is the present genocide in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Is it rational or wise, while knowing the goals of our enemies, to accede to their methods of governance and behavior and thus make it easier for them to overcome us?
It is justifiable before the reality in which Bosnians and the Muslim Ummah are in for them to turn inward and review the functioning of the mechanisms of the Muslim system of governance, morality and ethics. (Holy Qur’ân 62:2) We need to see how much harm that we bring ourselves due to our unpreparedness to change our condition in order to follow the path of Allah and protect ourselves from harm that will befall us if we stray from the straight path. (Holy Qur’ân 5:105) If we don’t analyze our weaknesses and if we don’t build possibilities of everlasting, strong, solid defenses through the process of permanent self improvement and correction then we can expect the situation in Bosnia to be repeated elsewhere, even at the places where the tragedy would be much greater. Allah commands us to have a program of strong, active self defense in the Holy Qur’ân. (Refer Holy Qur’ân 3:167 and 13:11)
Now I will ask some rhetorical questions in order to aid in deepening our understanding of where the problem lies either with the West or with certain circles in our own Ummah:
Is the West guilty because help from most of the so-called Islamic countries was coming to Bosnia in the form of humanitarian aid that was provided for by the U.N. already when it was well known that we were in dire need of arms to defend our very lives in front of naked aggression and genocide?
Is the West guilty for the genocide lasting four years during which 200,000 members of the Muslim Ummah were killed, amongst them being 16,000 children, and in addition, 40,000 of our sisters were disgraced?
Is the West guilty because the oil of certain Muslim nations was not used to stop the bloodshed of Muslims?
Is the West guilty for the Muslim World being disunited and many Muslim lands being ruled by tyrants?
Is the West guilty because Muslim nations escaped their responsibility of putting their monies into the reconstruction of the infrastructure of Bosnia and to offer support in military defense of Bosnia? Now when we enjoy relative peace, we must use it to be ready to combat the next genocide (being planned already) instead of passively awaiting it.
Is the West guilty because many Muslims from the Muslim World came not to fight the enemies of Bosnia but to fight the traditional Bosnian Islam that has been practiced there for more than 500 years? For your information, it was this traditional Islam that allowed Islam to survive in Bosnia (and Europe) till today. Even non-Muslim, if they are truthful, could accept this historical fact. The proofs can be found in such readily available texts as: Rev. Arnold’s The Preaching of Islam.
Is the West guilty because such misguided Muslims, who fight traditional Islam instead of helping us, have introduced fitnah and confusion into our midst? Instead of helping and strengthening Islam in Bosnia they have weakened it. Consequently, Bosnians are now divided into two camps: the majority which follows the Hanafi Madhhab and a small but vocal minority which claims to follow the "Qur’ân and Sunnah" but in fact are the furthest from them. A division between those who celebrate Mevlud (the birthday of the Prophet) out of the love of the Messenger and those who fight it because the feel it is an innovation exists. These men, who have mainly come from Arab countries with humanitarian missions, have also divided Bosnian believers by other issues that never existed prior to those modern day innovators coming to Bosnia to cause fitnah. These individuals that cause fitnah sap our strength and allows more deaths and destruction to occur. Masjids are damaged and destroyed, medresas are burnt to the ground, and more people die.
A disturbing example of the discord sown by these innovators in religion even went as far as to bribe children with the promise of candy if they did not visit the graves of Shuhada or refused to celebrate Mevlud. When the town of Srebrenica fell and tragically 6,000 people were murdered, the children in the central Bosnian town of Travnik were bribed not to pray for the Shuhada by these foreign modern day innovators. Praying for martyrs is a tradition of Bosnian Islam and of Islam in general. Ask yourself which is more important -- fighting the enemies of Islam or forcing foreign derived innovationist Islam on traditional Madhhab following Muslims?
Considering what I know of the situation of the Muslim communities in both the United States and Bosnia and due to the bitter experience Bosnian Muslims have suffered, we have no other choice but to move with a strong initiative following appropriate and well-coordinated actions to form a Muslim community which will serve Allah Almighty and not his enemies and which will be strong in body, in spirit, and will be unified; such a community will be honored firstly by ourselves and then by others. It depends only on us (as Muslims) whether we will have a powerful united community based on Qur’ân and Sunnah. As long as we don’t accomplish this goal, it will be in vain to accuse others for our mishaps. We must hold onto the faith and commands of Allah, they are like a rope that attaches us to Heaven. (Refer Holy Qur’ân 3:103)
Let us analyze some of the reasons for the present state of the Muslim World. Firstly, Islam requires courage. Many examples can be brought forth to show the necessity of being courageous for Muslims. However, the Muslim society today is full of individuals who are essentially cowards and lack courage. To make matters worse, these individuals frequently sit in the governments of Muslim counties. How can we then expect the Muslim minority in Bosnia to be protected by such individuals who only fawn over the West? If the aggression against Bosnia happened 300 years ago, the Ottomans wouldn’t have stood by and watched the slaughter of their Muslim brothers and sisters. Here I must remind you of the ‘Ummah’s responsibility for the care of orphans, widows, and the oppressed. Today Bosnia is the orphan of the Muslim World. (Refer Holy Qur’ân 93:6)
Secondly, we must consider the value of following the guidance that Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’alla, has given us. Islam prohibited alcohol, however, today it is being produced and consumed in a number of Muslim countries. What kind of example can Muslim minorities then take from the behavior of their brethren in those countries?
Thirdly, Islam prescribed brotherhood amongst Muslims, however, wherever you turn you see Muslims are not united and moreover some wage wars and die for the sake of foreign causes or spend their abundant resources for military defense to protect themselves from their Muslim brothers. Furthermore, after stockpiling expensive highly sophisticated weapons, they stingedly give only a small minuscule fraction to the Muslims of Bosnia to protect themselves and these weapons came only reluctantly with much foot dragging. (Refer Holy Qur’ân 47:38)
Islam proclaims that in the wealth of the rich is a portion that the poor have a right to. Instead of giving the poor their God given rights, the rich started taking the lives and liberties of the poor as their own so much so that many Muslims got into a situation where they had little freedom to collect donations for their Muslim brethren in Bosnia. Governments of some Muslim countries were afraid that large donations would be collected, so they prohibited fund raising for Bosnia. Worse yet, some of these governments maintained diplomatic and economic relations with Serbia during the genocide in Bosnia. In doing so, they strengthened the hands of our killer -- the real aggressors and perpetrators of genocide in Bosnia. (Refer Holy Qur’ân 70:25 and 51:19)
The nonexistence of the office of the Khalifah and the government under him leaves no Muslim minority paying a higher price than the Bosnian Muslim. Bosnian Muslims suffered tremendously after the fall of the Khalifate. Bosnia is an indicator to the Muslim World that it cannot even live (let alone progress) in an Ummah divided along national lines. Grand Muftis and Rais-ul-Ulema don’t have the necessary competencies and authority of the Supreme Religious leader of all Muslims in the world -- the Khalifah (the successor of the Prophet Muhammad) -- to lead Muslims. Only the Khalifah has these abilities and authority invested upon him. If we had the Khalifah, the Serbian aggressor would ponder the out come of the aggression to see if it would be worthwhile to enter a war against one billion Muslims. (Refer Holy Qur’ân 4:59)
There are many things that the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) abhorred so one non-Muslim felt obliged to write, "If the Prophet would arise from his grave and see what his followers have done he would certainly be horribly angry and would curse those who participated in that [in regards to the faith of Allah]." The President of Bosnia, his Excellency Alija Izetbegovi has a habit of saying that those who love Islam have one thing left to console them, This situation is not the result of Islam but its negation. [Zasto su muslimani zao stali Why Muslims are backwards Takvim 1967, p. 97]
The consolation which the President mentions contains a hope if the negation led to such a situation of backwardness and chaos. Is the return to Islam going to mean the advent of a new spirit and new era in the life of the Muslim ‘Ummah?
These changes brought about by a reaffirmation of the traditional sources of Islam (Qur’ân, Hadith, consensus of the scholars, and scholarly personal opinion derived from these sources) will turn the Muslim world from its decline and dependence upon the West for its forms of governance, morals, economics, and education system and standards. Every person who supported Bosnia and attempts to implement a return to Islam is a needed part of an Islamic Renaissance and deserves praise and thanks.
Today’s dynamic changes in the Islamic World despite some clumsiness, unreadiness, and unnecessary emulation of others, announces a new -- and we hope and pray to Allah -- positive turn of events and renaissance for Muslims. I hold this conference as an invitation to every Muslim to be a participant in this Renaissance.
Note: This paper was originally written for presentation at the August 1996 Islamic Unity Conference in L.A. For various reasons it was not able to be presented there, but it is here for the uplift of fallen humanity. -- Editor.
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