The Islamic Community was established in 1882 during the Austrian-Hungarian rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina. After creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the seat of the Islamic Community was moved from Sarajevo to Belgrade but was moved back to Sarajevo in 1936. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, the organized community on Yugoslav level broke up, while the majority of local and regional Muslim communities accepted the historic authority of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina was initially weak, but with the help from Alija Izetbegović, Bosnia and Herzegovina's president, as well as key military leaders, it became a pillar of the Bosniaknational identity. Under tenure of the Grand MuftiMustafa Cerić, who held this office from April 1993 until November 2012, the Islamic Community promoted Bosniak culture, politics and identity, with its influence extending beyond the faithful and attracting many who were not practicing Muslims during the socialist period, as well as Bosniaks and other Slavic Muslims living in the region of Sandžak and elsewhere.
seat is vacant, Jakub Selimoski left Sarajevo in 1993
*1993–1996 Mustafa Cerić, acting
1996–2012 Mustafa Cerić
2012– Husein Kavazović
Jurisdiction
The Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina and head of the community, Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina, are highest religious authorities for approximately 4 million Muslims in the world. The Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina has jurisdiction over the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Croatia through muftiluk of Zagreb, headed by Aziz Hasanović, Slovenia and Bosniak religious communities and mosques around the world. However, there is a dispute in Serbia over what Islamic Community has jurisdiction over the country, Bosnian or Serbian. Sandžak Mufti Muamer Zukorlić, who is supported by the ex-Grand Mufti Mustafa Cerić, wants that they remain under the jurisdiction of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Grand Mufti Adem Zilkić wants to expand the jurisdiction of the Islamic Community of Serbia to the entire country. He was supported by the deceased Grand Mufti of Yugoslavia Hamdija Jusufspahić, and later by Hamdija's son Muhamed. Islamic Community of Montenegro, although not formally under jurisdiction of Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina, recognizes Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the highest religious and moral authority of Muslims in the region. The highest body of Muslims in Hungary, Hungarian Islamic Council, have expressed willingness to become part of Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina and for Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina to act as supreme religious authority for Hungarian Muslims. Sufi orders in areas under jurisdiction of Islamic Community are operating within Tariqa Center and are autonomous but subordinated to the Islamic Community and the Grand Mufti.
