Kuduzovic, who has roughly 33,000 followers on Facebook, is considered the highest authority among Salafi Da’is. The Islamic Community did not respond to an interview request, while three professors at the Faculty of Islamic Sciences, who have previously written and spoken publicly about the work of Salafi Da’is, refused to comment for this story. Each has a considerable circle of followers and gives lectures across Bosnia. Pezic consented to an informal conversation with BIRN BiH reporters but declined a formal interview.įellow Da’is Safet Kuduzovic, Almir Kapic, Zijad Ljakic refused to speak to BIRN BiH, while Dzevad Golos did not respond to requests for comment.
They organise lectures in local premises such as cultural centres and cinemas, encouraging interest with promises of prizes for a few lucky participants.īIRN BiH contacted a number of these organisations but none of their representatives agreed to be interviewed. They are supported by a network of organisations registered as associations for the promotion of ‘positive values’ and ‘original Islam’, youth associations and book clubs, according to BIRN BiH reporting. And their sophisticated use of social media means they are reaching a growing audience. Pezic himself has preached against ISIS and violence in the name of Islam.īut the Salafi Da’is do question some fundamental human rights and the role of women in modern Bosnian society. Pezic has no official position within the Islamic Community, but where once he spoke strongly against it, the popular Da’i now says he is a part of it.īecirevic stressed that the likes of Pezic do not pose a threat in terms of encouraging violent extremism. The shift in rhetoric from the Salafi Da’is appears to have coincided with a move by the Islamic Community to integrate the Salafists and shut down a network of parallel, unofficial mosques since 2016, under pressure from the West to confront the flow of Bosnian Salafists to ISIS. The rise of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and the departure of some 200 Bosnians to join it led many in Bosnia to see the community as a security threat. Salafists in Bosnia have long been viewed as hardliners within a Muslim Bosniak population that on the whole practices a moderate form of Islam. They say that while the Salafi Da’is have toned down their most radical messages, they still preach intolerance and call into question basic human rights enshrined in Bosnian law. Observers of the Salafi movement in Bosnia, however, are concerned about its growing following.
Now though, Pezic enjoys the kind of social media profile that Islamic Community officials can only dream of, the result of what a BIRN BiH analysis suggests has been a concerted policy to dial down the Salafi Da’i rhetoric and to mobilise a network of non-governmental bodies in organising and promoting lectures via social media, often with the promise of prizes for those who attend, from mobile phones to paid-up Hajj pilgrimages.
Yet it was only a few years ago that Pezic and other Salafi Da’is – preachers who call people to the Islamic faith – were marginalised, shunning and shunned by the country’s official, more liberal Islamic Community, the chief Islamic authority in Bosnia. Elvedin Pezic has over 150,000 followers on Facebook, where he broadcasts live his lectures on Islam to packed auditoriums around Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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