Shariʻa Courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina
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- On March 5, 1946, the authorities of socialist Yugoslavia abolished the Shariʻa courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This watershed mo ment marked the end of centuries of the application of Islamic law Karčić Fikret - in this part of Europe. Over the preceding five centuries, Islamic law had formed an integral part of the legal systems of the Otto man Empire, Austria-Hungary, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. - The focus of this book is on how a non-Muslim state, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, applied Shariʻa law in relation to its Muslim minori ty under the jurisdiction of its own courts. First published in 1986, - during the final years of socialist Yugoslavia, this book was the first comprehensive study of this phenomenon and is now avail able in English. Fikret Karčić is Professor of Legal History at the Faculty of Law of the University of Sarajevo. He has taught at the Faculty of Islamic Studies in Sarajevo, Marmara University in Istanbul, the International Islamic University of Malaysia, the University of Oslo, and Boise State University (USA). - His main academic interests are the history of Islamic law and of Fikret Karčić the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the post-Otto man period, reformist movements in Islam, Balkan Muslims, and comparative legal cultures. SHARIʻA COURTS IN YUGOSLAVIA 1918-1941 IN YUGOSLAVIA SHARIʻA COURTS ISBN 978-9926-471-07-1 ISBN 978-9958-23-524-5 INSHARIʻA YUGOSLAVIA COURTS 1918-1941 SHARI A COURTS IN ʻ YUGOSLAVIA 1918-1941 Shariʻa Courts in Yugoslavia 1918-1941 Fikret Karčić First published as Šerijatski sudovi u Jugoslaviji 1918-1941, Sarajevo: Vrhovno islamsko starješinstvo, 1986. First edition in English language. Copyright © 2019 Center for Advanced Studies This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exceptions and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of the Center for Advanced Studies.. COVER IMAGE: School for Shariʻa judges in Sarajevo, established in 1887. PUBLISHER : Center for Advanced Studies, www.cns.ba El-Kalem - Publishing Center of the Riyasat of the Islamic Community S in Bosnia and Herzegovina TRANSLATOR: Desmond Maurer CIP - Katalogizacija u publikaciji Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka Bosne i Hercegovine, Sarajevo Fikret Karčić IN YUGOSLAVIA SHARIʻA COURTS 1918-1941 Sarajevo, 2019 Contents Preface ....................................................................................................................................9 Introduction ......................................................................................................................11 its Application in the Southern Slavic Lands Before 1918 ............................ Chapter I / General Remarks on Shariʻa Law and ...... 17 Rule1. General ................................................................................................................................. Propositions on Shariʻa Law and the Shariʻa Judiciary 2517 2. The Shariʻa Courts in the Southern Slavic Lands under Ottoman the End of Ottoman Rule to 1918. .....................................................................28 3. Thea. Bosnia Application and Herzegovina of Shariʻa Law ............................................................................. in the Southern Slavic Lands from29 b. Serbia .................................................................................................................35 c. Montenegro ......................................................................................................39 d. Croatia and Slavonia, Slovenia and Dalmatia .................................... 40 Chapter II / The Mandatory ......................................................................................................... Character of Shariʻa Law and the Institution of State Shariʻa Courts in Yugoslavia 1. Legal Sources and Reasons for the Mandatory Application from 1918 to 1941 43 ....................................................................................................... a. The guarantee in international law of Shariʻa Law ...................................................................44 b. The constitutional guarantee for the application of Shariʻa .............................................................44 of the application of Shariʻa law 485 Fikret Karčić / Shari'a courts in Yugoslavia 1918-1941 .........60 2. Thein Yugoslavia Legal Consequences and Other Balkan of Establishing Countries State .............................................. Shariʻa Courts 62 3. A Comparative Review of the Validity of Shariʻa Law Chapter III / The Structure and Functioning ...................................................................................................... ......................................................................68 of the Shariʻa Courts 67 a) The 1918-1929 period ...............................................................................68 1. Establishing the Shariʻa Courts ..............................................................................80 .............................................................95 b) The 1929-1941 period. .95 2. The Character of the Shariʻa Courts a) CommunityThe relationship ................................................................................................... of the Shariʻa courts to the state authorities101 b) The relationship of the Shariʻa courts to the Islamic .................... Religious105 .......................................................................................... 108 a)c) ComparisonThe personal of and the technical Shariʻa and conditions the spiritual required courts for 3. The Shariʻa Justices ......................................................... 108 ............... 112 appointment as a Shariʻa justice ..................................................... 116 b) The professional and social status of Shariʻa justices 4. Theprocedure Functioning ...................................................................................................... of the Shariʻa Courts 116 a) General characteristics and peculiarities of Shariʻa ...................court 118 b) Material weaknesses of the Shariʻa judicial system .....121 ........................................................ 121 Chapter IV / The Sources and Character of Shariʻa Law in Yugoslavia a) The works of Muslim legal experts .................................................... 122 1. Theb) The Sources reformist of Material Ottoman Shariʻa laws Law and decrees ...................................... 125 .......................................................... 129 c) Private and official codifications ................. 138 and compilations of Shariʻa law ................................................... a)d) TheCirculars works and of theorders classical of the Muslim supreme legal Shariʻa experts courts. .......................... 2. Theb) Ottoman Sources ofreforming Shariʻa Procedural legislation Law 142 ....................................................... 142 c) The reception of Austrian procedural law ...................................... and its codification of Shariʻa law .............................. 143 .......................... 150144 d) The attempt to codify Shariʻa procedural law 146 e) The works of the Yugoslav Shariʻa legal experts 6 Ch. V / The Social and Legal Consequences of Applying Shari’a Law and the Existence ...................................................................................................... 151 3. The Place of Shariʻa in the Legal System of the Yugoslav State from 1918 to 1941 Chapter V / The Social and Legal Consequences ............ of Applying Shariʻa Law and the Existence of the Shariʻa Courts 157 and Cultural Status .......................................................................................... 1. The Application of Shariʻa and Muslim Social an Oriental and Islamic to a Western European 157 a) culturalThe application sphere ............................................................................................ of Shariʻa law and the Muslim transition from158 Muslim marital and family life ............................................................. 163 c)b) AThe critical application review ofof Shariʻaopinion law on andthe application ......... Yugoslavof Shariʻa Private law Lawand ......................................................................................its role in Yugoslav Muslim social life 172 2. The Application of Shariʻa in light of the general condition of confessionalisation of Yugoslav marital law .................................. 175 a) Implementing Shariʻa as an expression of and factor in the Yugoslav civil law ....................................................................................... 175 b) Applying Shariʻa and the attempt to harmonise Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 178183 References ....................................................................................................................... I - Sources ................................................................................................................. 187 II - Literature ........................................................................................................... 189 187 7 Preface This book is an English translation of Šerijatski sudovi u Jugoslaviji 1918- 1941 (Sarajevo: Vrhovno islamsko starješinstvo, 1986). That book