Islam in Bosnia After Communism: The Saudi Connection

With the collapse of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s and the resulting ethno-religious conflict in Bosnia, the international community turned its attention to the tragedy playing out in the Balkans. For Bosnia’s Muslims one of the most important sources of external support came in the form of humanitarian relief and assistance from Saudi Arabia. Alongside its charitable contributions, Saudi Arabia also promoted in Bosnia the austere form of Salafi Islam—commonly known as Wahhabism—associated with the desert kingdom. Thirty years after the war, how should we regard the legacy of these transnational religious influences? To what extent have they reshaped the religious landscape of Bosnia? Are younger Bosnians turning to Salafism today because of the Saudi connection, or because of reasons closer to home? In this short documentary film, Islam in Bosnia After Communism: The Saudi Connection, journalist and scholar Harun Karčić explores these questions in conversation with Bosnian experts against the backdrop of Sarajevo’s evolving religious life.

To learn more about Islam in Bosnia after communism, check out these related resources:

"Salafism vs. Moderate Islam: A Rhetorical Fight for the Hearts and Minds of Bosnian Muslims"
Edina Bećirević
Atlantic Initiative, Sarajevo, 2016
https://bit.ly/2NjNLB0

"Left Behind: Survivors of Violent Extremism"
Mirnes Kovač, Kimberly Storr, Edina Bečirević, and Vlado Azinović
Atlantic Initiative, Sarajevo, 2019
http://bit.ly/3rUyoxW

"Community Perspectives on the Prevention of Violent Extremism in Bosnia and Herzegovina"
Sead Turčalo
Berghof Foundation, Berlin, 2018
https://bit.ly/3toHIKQ

Watch other documentaries on religious soft power in Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Iranian Soft Power and Religion in Bosnia: A Diplomacy of Shared Oppression
   • Iranian Soft Power and Religion in Bo...  

Turkey’s Influence on Bosnian Islam: Neo-Ottomanism Meets Post-Communism
   • Turkey’s Influence on Bosnian Islam: ...  

To learn more about the activities of the Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power project, visit
http://bit.ly/ReligiousSoftPower

This video is made possible by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The statements made and views expressed in this video are solely the responsibility of the authors and interviewees.