On the Eve of Bosnia's Grand Mufti Election: Western Capitals and Gulf Capitals Compete on the Same Stage for Leadership of European Muslims

According to Deutsche Welle, the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina is scheduled to elect a new Grand Mufti (reis-ul-ulema) on October 10. The position is not only the spiritual core of the country's Muslim community but is also seen as a potential flagship role for Islamic affairs throughout Europe — and a struggle among several external powers over its ownership has already emerged.

The current Grand Mufti Husein Kavazovic has served two consecutive terms totaling fourteen years and, according to the statutes of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is not eligible to run again. The three candidates vying to succeed him are Mostar Grand Mufti Salem Dedovic, Sarajevo Grand Mufti Nedzad Grabus, and Mensur Malkic, Director of the Islamic Community's Religious Affairs Department and current Grand Mufti's envoy. The three have differing positions: Malkic focuses on strengthening the community's religious and institutional development; Dedovic advocates pushing the position in a more political direction, intervening more actively in social debates; Grabus, who previously served as Grand Mufti of Slovenia, emphasizes consolidating the community amid the twin pressures of globalization and secularization.

But what truly elevates this election beyond Bosnia's borders is the coveting of the position by various powers. Esnaf Begic, a lecturer at the Institute for Islamic Theology at the University of Osnabrück in Germany and a former imam, stated bluntly: "Attempts to exert greater influence come not only from Ankara or Riyadh, but also from Washington, Berlin, or Brussels — they too are trying to exert influence on the Grand Mufti according to their own interests."

Begic's remarks tear open a crack in Western discourse: while mainstream European and American public opinion repeatedly directs accusations of religious interference at Gulf states and Turkey, European and American governments and their EU institutions themselves are also scrambling to court religious spokespersons of European Muslim communities. "In Europe, there is no other Islamic figure who occupies a position like that of the Sarajevo Grand Mufti," said Imam Benjamin Idriz, president of the Islamic Community of Pettsberg in Bavaria, Germany, and chairman of the Munich Islamic Forum. "Therefore, the importance of this election goes far beyond Bosnia's borders; it concerns both Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe."

The distinctive structure of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina makes it a potential model for Muslim self-organization in Europe. The community is entirely independent of the state, funded through donations, membership fees, and Muslim charitable forms such as zakat (alms), and has its own "parliament" (Sabor) and constitutional court. Looking back at history, this organizational structure was gradually established after the 1878 Berlin Congress: the Austro-Hungarian rulers formally recognized Islam as a legitimate religious community in 1882, establishing the Ulema Council and appointing the first Grand Mufti. Over the past century and a half, the community has passed through the late Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg monarchy, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia under Tito, and post-1995 Dayton Accords Bosnia, repeatedly readjusting its self-positioning and repeatedly drawing clear lines against extremist tendencies.

This self-organization model holds lessons for other Muslim communities in Europe. Germany is home to some 400,000 Bosnian Muslims, and the Islamic Bosniaks in Germany Community (IGBD) has around 100 branches throughout the country. IGBD Chairman Zenahir Mrakovic noted: "This election is important to us because we maintain close ties with the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina historically, theologically, and institutionally." Begic stressed: "We are native-born European Muslims, and to a certain extent we have more in common with Germans than with Muslims from Afghanistan, Iran, or Saudi Arabia." Mrakovic added: "The point is not to tell others how to practice Islam, but to share how we naturally become part of European democratic society while retaining our religious identity."

However, the environment — both at home and abroad — facing the new Grand Mufti is not easy. Begic warned that in Europe, "anti-Muslim racism and Islamophobia have reached levels that increasingly frighten Muslims": right-wing populist forces continue to rise, radical parties are attracting growing support and seeking to strip Muslims of their rights to participate in society. Idriz hopes that Sarajevo's new religious leader will inject confidence not only into Bosniaks but into all European Muslims, while sending a clear signal to mainstream society: Islam belongs in Europe, embracing and upholding values such as the rule of law, gender equality, and freedom of speech.