Ten New Mosques This Year in Sarajevo

Build a Mosque Wherever You See Fit

AIM Sarajevo, 22 April, 1998

The postwar picture of Sarajevo is full of contrasts. While expecting privatisation, former Yugoslav giant enterprises - Energoinvest, Unis, Hidrogradnja and Famos - are slowly, silently, but surely and with no dignity at all, dying; several ten thousand unemployed, a large number of demobilised veterans inclusive, are hopelessly touring employment agencies, and together with pensioners and other social groups, living on the verge of poverty. And maybe, they have already crossed to the other side.

This is just one side of the medal. Its seamy side is quite different. The nouveau riches, most often war profiteers, are building new hotels or business buildings on locations which, in "those dark ages", not even the highest officials could afford, private banks and restaurants are springing up which not even Paris, London or New York would be ashamed to have, they are driving luxurious cars. While ones are tottering under the burden of poverty, the others are living in clover. There is almost no manufacturing, but trade, catering and smuggling are flourishing. And yet, however strange it may sound, in Socialist-realistic terminology, Sarajevo is a big construction site. A big construction site of - mosques.

The copper dome of the newly-constructed mosque in the part of the city called Kobilja glava, is well-proportioned and beautiful, from the slender minaret of the new mosque in Pofalici the voice of a muezzin will soon be heard, the location of the new mosque in Kosevo is somewhat curious, since it is surrounded by three new skyscrapers. These are the three mosques the construction of which is almost completed. And according to plan, construction of another seven mosques should begin in the course of this year. Grbavica will have two mosques, Vraca, Mojmilo and Otoka will each get one, Dobrinja is planned to get two. The most attractive and the biggest will be the mosque in the part of Sarajevo called Otoka. The famous and four-century old Bey's mosque will appear miniature in comparison with it. The mosque in Otoka will be ten whole times bigger, along with the space for worship, it will have the Muslim elementary school, reading-rooms, and other accompanying facilities. Its construction should have begun in February. For to us unknown reasons, the beginning of construction was postponed, but investment for it is quite certain and believers from this part of Sarajevo can be completely at ease. The donor for construction of this mosque is Indonesia.

It might be interesting to know that, at the moment, on the territory of the Federation, about 200 Muslim religious buildings are being reconstructed or repaired. The donations for this purpose, in majority of cases, Sarajevo inclusive, are arriving from Islamic countries. Saudi Arabia blazes the trail in this form of aid, with 80 per cent of the total donations, followed by Malesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iran and Turkey. The abundant aid promised B&H by these countries for its postwar revival, reconstruction and development, mostly comes down to donations for this purpose. It is welcome, of course, but it is questionable whether it is the most urgent. They say in Sarajevo that the authorities do not participate in financing of construction of new mosques. Let us believe them. But it cannot be denied that the these authorities are exceptionally prompt in issuing permits for construction and numerous other papers necessary for such facilities. The logic is simple, if you wish to be in power, nowadays you have to appear in the mosque, if possible in the front row. It is not good for your career to antagonize religious officials. Thanks to such a benevolent approach, along with the existing 86 mosques in Sarajevo, another ten will be constructed in the course of this year, so the day when this city will be able to boast with having 100 mosques is not far, despite the fact which could recently be heard at the press conference of the Union of B&H Social Democrats (UBSD) that nine mosques in Sarajevo had been closed down due to the lack of worshippers.

For the still more or less multiethnic Sarajevo it would be good if the attitude of the authorities were the same when other religious communities are concerned. But, for example, nothing has come out of the idea to build a Catholic church in Sarajevo municipality Novi grad. Bosnian Archbishop, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, says: "I must conclude with regret that city and municipal authorities have led us by the nose concerning issuing us the permit for years. After waiting for several years, the donors who had been ready to give us the money for construction of the church, have given up on us, so the parishioners of Novi grad are left out in the open. Despite everything, we will begin the necessary preparations in hope that we will be able to organize building of the parish church of St. Luke the Evangelist".

Some believers, therefore, have nothing but hope, and the hope of others is abundantly coming true. It is true, though, that they are neither to blame nor to be given credit for it. The political environment in which they, together with all the Sarajevans, live is to blame or be given the credit. They are all equal, but some are more equal.

This is how things stand now. The mosques are being built, and hospitals, schools, residential buildings or industrial plants will have to wait for better times. Money from Islamic countries were given specifically for this purpose; to what extent the life of the Sarajevans, regardless of their religion, will be better thanks to it, can be predicted with quite a lot of precision. But it can also be concluded how much true good will to help, and how much longterm policy there is in every one of these donation.

Mladen PAUNOVIC

(AIM, Sarajevo)