Bosnian Imam Speaks Out Against Religious Extremism
On Monday January 5th, 2015, Amel Emric wrote an article entitled “Bosnian Imam Attacked 7 Times Over Call To Stay Out Of Syria.” In the piece, he discussed the story of Selvedin Beganovic, a Bosnian Imam who has been quite critical of Bosnians traveling to Syria to join ISIS. In fact, he has been so outspoken of religious extremism that he has been attacked multiple times. On one occasion, he was stabbed three times by an unknown assailant.
But despite the threats against his life, he continues to advocate peaceful Islam, calling against those who are looking to cause harm. In the article, speaking of the situation in Syria and Iraq, he was quoted as saying “”That is not our war…”. He went on to say that “[o]ur jihad in Bosnia is the fight against unemployment. The care for our parents who have small pensions. The care for the socially jeopardized.”
He also had harsh word for the extremists, condemning their interpretation of Islam, saying “”When did (the Prophet) Muhammad ever behead anyone?” he said. “When did he take a knife and slaughter an innocent journalist?”” He also stressed the Islamic message that God is the Most Merciful and Generous (Emric, 2015).
I wanted to write on this story as it shows that Muslims are willing to commit their lives to expressing the peace filled nature of the faith, all the while condemning religious extremists who are trying to overtake the faith and the interpretation of the religion in a way that is harmful to human rights. Often enough, there are concentrated efforts by some to aim to generalize and say that Islam as a faith is bad, or try to suggest that because of the acts of a few, all Muslims are carrying out evil acts.
This story illustrates that there are many Muslims who are speaking out against religious extremism, who are stressing the importance of love and peace within Islam. We must be very careful to generalize a group of roughly 1.57 billion people; it is quite inaccurate to do so. The vast majority of Muslims are not violent, and are not supporting religious extremism, and the horrific actions of ISIS.
Let us continue to highlight the voices of acceptance, those who champion human rights, and those who view the world as one human community. The objective should be to advocate justice and peace, and we should know that they are happening throughout all parts of the world, including Muslims who are risking their lives to speak out against ISIS and also against those who are justifying violence in the name of Islam or any other religion.
