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Muslim Identity and Islamic Faith in Sarajevo

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Muslim Identity and Islamic Faith in Sarajevo MUSLIM IDENTITY AND ISLAMIC FAITH IN SARAJEVO ICAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY -ý-j Cornelia Sorabji King's College Cambridge CB2 1ST Thesis submitted in candidature for the Ph.D. degree in Social Anthropology 'crnelia Katharine SORABJI Cornelia Sorabji MUSLIM IDENTITY AND ISLAMIC FAITH IN SARAJEVO Among the dominant themes in contemporary world affairs are the political role of Islam and the problem of national minorities in socialist states. The present thesis seeks to examine these issues through the anthropological investigation of a Muslim minority within a multi-national, federated socialist state - the Muslims of Bosnia-Hercegovina in Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav state is a constitutional federation of several diverse nationalities, all of which seek to preserve, assert and develop their distinct political identities within the fragile power balance system of Yugoslavia. The republic of Bosnia- Hercegovina is dominated by three such nationalities - the Serb, the Croat and the Muslim. These three correspond to three religious faiths; the Serbs are Orthodox, the Croats are Catholic and the Muslims are of the Islamic faith. Whilst the state does not officially recognise this correspondence, for ordinary Bosnians it is fundamental; national and religious identity are seen as inextricably linked. It is the nature of this link which forms the focus of my study, the fieldwork for which was carried out in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. For Sarajevo's Muslims Islam provides a "double identity", two ways of conceptualising collective identity. One the one hand Islam distinguishes Muslims from their Serb/Orthodox and Croat/Catholic neighbours, whilst on the other it gives them membership in a worldwide religious community transcending the bounds of Yuqoslavia. Both aspects of identity find expression in Muslim religious life. Thus male death rituals assert Bosnian Muslims' identity as members of the Islamic Umma, whilst mortuary rites performed by women are seen as distinguishing Muslims from their non-Muslim neighbours. In this and other ways religion becomes a medium for identity assertion. At the same time the discourse of identity is one through which rivalling religious6 orientations may compete. For example, the state authorised Muslim establishment promotes a rapprochement of Islamic and socialist ideologies and of Muslim and Yugoslav identity, whilst a new, semi-clandestine Islamic tendency looks constantly to the outside Muslim world, seeking to ally Bosnian Muslims with it. As an ethnographic study the thesis examines a number of issues including the perception of town and neighbourhood as separate conceptual spaces, the role of ritual, gender relations and the nature of religious rivalry. Through this approach to Sarajevan Muslim society it attempts to illuminate some broader questions concerning the political role of Islam in the modern world, the development of nationalisms and the nature of relations between minorities and the socialist state. CONTENTS Preface I Note on Pronunciation IV Map of Yugoslavia V INTRODUCTION 1 1 DOUBLE IDENTITY 9 2. TOWN AND NEIGHBOURHOOD 43 3. RELIGIOUS ACTION 86 4. RELIGIOUS BUREAUCRACY 118 5. RIVALLING RELIGIOUS ORIENTATIONS: 155 DERVISHES AND MYSTICS 6. MEN, WOMENAND DEATH RITUALS 193 CONCLUSIONS AND SOME COMPARISONS 220 Appendices 236 References 242 PREFACE This work is about the role of religion in creating and expressing group identity within a Muslim minority in socialist Southeastern Europe. It touches on subjects such as Islamic fundamentalism, sufi mysticism, nationalism, socialist society and the relationship between the state and minority groups. These themes are of potential interest to an audience wider than the anthropological one but the present work is essentially an anthropological monograph, the research for which was conducted principally through the traditional ethnographic method of participant observation during f If teen months of 1985/86. Access to the facilities of Sarajevo's Oriental Institute, Ethnographic Museum and excellent Gazi Husrevbeg library allowed me to conduct a certain amount of historical research but statistical or questionnaire based study presented a problem. This problem lay in the need for me to have both a persona acceptable to those whom I counted as informants and a purpose and plan acceptable to the authorities. In the end I was faced with a choice. Either to be a fully fledged, high powered foreign scholar doing archival research, interviews with public figures and questionnaires, or to attempt to find my own quiet niche in the ordinary life of the Sarajevan Muslim population. The two were incompatible since pursuing the former course would have cut me off from a public which tends, whenever possible, to avoid contact with officialdom and authority. As an anthropologist I therefore chose the latter course. My affiliation to the Oriental Institute gave me a legitimate status and the chance to read and to converse wi th Or ien ta 1is ts, bu t lef t me su ff ic ien t ly f ree and anonymous to conduct other research. - Even in my role as participant observer the research was. perforce (with many informants), low key as a result of their unease with formality. Thus my few attempts to tape conversations and interviews were met with suspicion or reluctance. People were happy to converse and explain things to me within the framework of a personal relationship, but if they realised that I was attempting anything even approaching a questionnaire (an informal series of questions, notebook in hand, about the informant's childhood, family, marriage etc. ) they grew embarrassed or cagey or evasive. Other factors also imposed restrictions on the nature of my fieldwork. For example, before leaving for Bosnia I had been particularly interested in the dervish orders. It transpired, however, that these orders did not reciprocate my feeling; they were not interested in me and not very forthcoming. At the same time I formed few relationships with non-Muslims or with hard line atheist Muslims. This was partly due to lack of time but more importantly it was the result of a need to be seen by my principal informants as being part of their world and loyal to it, not flitting about with divided loya 1t ies. The constraints and limitiations associated with fieldwork in Bosnia entail that this thesis cannot be an attempt at an exhaustive analysis of every aspect of the Bosnian Muslim situation. Rather it is offered as an anthropological examination of a certain aspect of it: popular Muslim conceptions of collective Identity and Islamic religion, and the uses thereof. My research has been financially supported by grants from the Economic and Social Research Council of Great Britain and from the General Board of the University of Cambridge. To both benefactors I am most grateful. During my stay in Bosnia I was affiliated to the Oriental Institute of Sarajevo where every kindness was extended to me. In particular I would like to thank the '.,,ýstitute's - president, Professor Sulejman Grozdanid, and Dr D2emal ýehajid for all their help. Naturally neither man is responsible for the opinions put forward here. I am indebted to my supervisor, Ernest Gellner, whose pertinent criticisms and ever useful suggestions have been of immense value and whose own work is a constant inspiration. Basim Musallam read various drafts of the thesis and through his specific comments and his knowledge of Islamic society in general has widened my own understanding. The kindness, encouragement and suggestions of Alexandre Popovic have also helped me considerably. Pascal Boyer, Chris Hann, Nancy Tapper, John Barber and Steve Hugh-Jones read versions of the thesis at various stages and I have benefited greatly from their comments and encouragement. Finally I would like to thank all those Sarajevans who made the research possible by welcoming me, tolerating my linguistic and social inadequacy and trying to teach me what I wanted to know. They are too numerous to mention individually but I would like to record my particular thanks to the Karakat family without whose kindness, patience and care my stay in Sarajevo would have been far less pleasant and fruitful. The thesis does not exceed 80,000 words in length and is the result of my own work, including nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration. -. Iii - NOTE ON PRONUNCIATION In Yugoslavia both a Latin and a Cyrillic script are employed. The former has been used for Serbo-Croatian terms in the present work. In spite of its broad simillarity the Serbo-Croatian Latin alphabet does contain some letters which do not form part of the English Latin alphabet. At the same time some identical letters are pronounced differently. C c like the ts in: Catsup d like the Ch in: Charm d like the T in: Tune D d like the J in: Jam D2 d2 similar to D/d but somewhat softer H h like the ch in: Loch i j like the Y in: Yellow § like the Sh in: Shoes ± like the S in: Pleasure - iv - Lli C) A '1- 4", I. iT :11:: ,-". ý. - ý%ý-* - 'o -- ,I,. I-. 00 --*. -1c 2c CZ) tý ca uj C-2 -.., ý*.. ,: /- P. ,",? - A" -ac I I.. 2E INK cm ca C2 C11- C2 cc -, In -Nit CM 1 cc <I- cm ý 1 ;I-,, Z491 -. t zý - ,, ->. ui C:) .X CM cm LLJ C-2 g= ui lb cm rlý 44C am -7u I- 4 uI .a (A C= A) Fý4 I) C.3 12 c 0 Z0-c0 . r& 1 ý, C- -0 .00 73 -- (1 c> Cl 2 :3 :2 c: CIL -00 (Z 0 7v a- LO C tu 0 -00: ,0, 0 / cf' 0- E 0c: c 4n cm c -0 LO Ial)- C14 cn cn-i >. 3.> 0-' <Z-5 -;i crU, (D=, 0 .4 SI -4 - V- INTRODUCTION Among the dominant themes in contemporary world affairs are the political role of Islam and the problem of national minorities in socialist states.
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