4 Million Muslims in a Communist State : Bosnia Is Bastion of Islam in Yugoslavia

SARAJEVO, Yugoslavia — In Sarajevo, mosques and minarets rise above Austrian baroque architecture. Fresh-ground coffee scents the air of bazaars and cafes serve kebabs and curds but no alcohol.

Eight decades after the Ottomans and the Austrians were driven out of the region in the cataclysm of World War I, Bosnia is a bastion of Islam--in a communist state.

Islam has caused some stirs in Yugoslavia in recent months.

Some Yugoslav media have suggested fundamentalists could be taking a foothold among the Muslims, the Iranian media accuse the authorities of oppressing them, and dissident intellectuals allege Bosnia is now ruled by a “Pan-Islamic” conspiracy.

Muslim Way of Life

The allegations are dismissed by local officials, and the federal authorities act quickly against any dissent in the heady mix of multi-ethnic population in Bosnia and other Yugoslav regions.

“There are no roots for fundamentalism here (Yugoslavia). It can’t happen in a state where Islam is in a minority,” said Hukic Abdurahman, a member of the Yugoslav Islamic Council.

Four million of this country’s almost 23 million citizens adhere to the Muslim faith.

Post-war stability has helped consolidate the Muslim way of life in Bosnia and is reflected in an array of modern apartment buildings rising on the edge of town, as well as shops stocked high with imported luxuries and valued in hard currency.

The most war-ravaged part of Yugoslavia, Bosnia-Hercegovina--one of the biggest and least accessible of the six Yugoslav republics--benefited from its abundant coal, ores and forests, and now from modern industry, tourism and international sports.

Biggest Racial Group

It is best known recently for hosting the 1984 Winter Olympics, and historically as the place where Austrian Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914.

Slav Muslims make up the biggest single racial group of Bosnia’s 4.1 million people, numbering 1.7 million alongside 1.3 million Serbs, who adhere to the orthodox faith, and 760,000 Croats, who are predominantly Catholics.

The non-Slav remainder of Yugoslavia’s Muslims are mainly ethnic Albanians and a small number of Turks in the Kosovo and Macedonia regions to the south.

Their high birth rate is evident from the hordes of cheerful children playing on the streets, and the Muslims here seem likely to boost their dominant position further. The country’s 4,000 mosques are always well-attended.

Islamic Research Library

Sarajevo also boasts the only Islamic Theological Faculty in Europe, founded in 1977, and is home for an important research library used by Islamic scholars from far and wide.