Pregledni rad
Islam and Muslims in Croatia: An Outline of the Making of Muslim/Bosniak Socio-cultural Space
Ružica Čičak-Chand
; Institut za migracije i narodnosti, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
The most common and obvious result of migration, regardless of its initial character and the real nature of the phenomenon, is the settlement of a large number of migrants and the formation of ethnic communities or minorities in the new place. The migration of Bosnian Muslims to Croatia commenced already towards the end of the last century as a result of the Austro-Hungarian occupation and annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It continued within the common states of the first and second Yugoslavia up to the newest period of independent Croatia and has today resulted in the second largest ethnic community or minority in Croatia. In the given context the author presents the historical course of the settlement of Bosnian Muslims in Croatia as well as the formation and activity of the Islamic community in the country. She indicates some contemporary socio-cultural and political issues pertaining to the presence of Muslims-Bosniaks in Croatia. Accordingly, the first part of the paper presents the relevant historical facts relating to the migration of Muslims from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Croatia, together with the main characteristics of migration movements – migration based mainly on economic reasons, but also including a considerable “brain drain” flow, resulting in an outstanding “input” of Muslims to Croatian arts and sciences. The first part of the paper also treats the contemporary legal status of the Muslim-Bosniak minority, the second largest (after the Serbs) minority community in Croatia (43,469, according to the 1991 population census). After Croatia gained independence, Bosniaks, as a constitutive element of the former Yugoslav Federation lost their status and were not recognised as an indigenous minority, which resulted in a considerable reduction of their previous rights. The second part of the paper considers the formation, activities and the status of the Islamic community in Croatia, which in 1991 became independent from the Islamic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina and for the first time established a Meshihat (the highest executive body of the Community) in Croatia. The paper further discusses the overall importance of the Islamic community in the religious, cultural and socio-political life of Bosniaks and other Muslim populations, including its possible role in integrating the socially and otherwise heterogeneous Muslim peoples of Croatia.
Ključne riječi
ethnicity; migration; minorities; Muslims-Bosniaks; Islamic Community; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
109478
URI
Datum izdavanja:
31.12.1999.
Posjeta: 3.876 *