Serb Muslims

For other uses, see Bosniaks, Torbeši, and Gorani people.

Serb Muslims
Срби муслимани
Srbi muslimani

Mehmed-paša Sokolović (1506-1579), Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (1565-1579), ethnic Serb by birth.[1][2][3][4][5]
Total population
c. 4,500
Regions with significant populations
Serbia: 4,238[6]  Bosnia and Herzegovina: 60[7]  Slovenia: 53[8]
Languages
Serbian
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Torbeši, Pomaks, Goranis, Bosniaks

Serb Muslims (Serbian Cyrillic: Срби муслимани, romanized: Srbi muslimani) or Serb Mohammedans (Serbian Cyrillic: Срби мухамеданци, romanized: Srbi muhamedanci), also referred to as Čitaci (Serbian Cyrillic: Читаци), are ethnic Serbs who are Muslims (adherents of Islam) by their religious affiliation.^[9]

Use of the term Čitaci

The term has several particular uses:

• The term derived from the Turkish "Çıtacı", a word used to refer to traders who sell wooden boards.
• In ethnographic, historical and comparative religious studies it is used as a designation for Islamized families of ethnic Serb descent.
• It has been used as a self-identification (Čitaci) in former Yugoslavia.
• It is used in historical studies to identify Ottoman people of Serb origin.
• It is used for the Muslim population in the region of Sandžak (Serbia).^[10]

History

Ottoman general and statesman Omar Pasha Latas (1806-1871), who was ethnic Serb by birth

Serb Muslims in Sarajevo, 1913

Since Serbs were, and still are, predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christians, their first significant historical encounter with Islam occurred in the second half of the 14th century, and was marked by the Turkish invasion and conquest of Serbian lands (starting in 1371 and ending by the beginning of the 16th century). That interval was marked by the first wave of Islamization among Serbs. In some regions, a substantial minority left Christianity and converted to Islam, willingly or by necessity, under the influence of the Ottoman authorities. The most notable Muslim of Serb ethnicity was Mehmed-paša Sokolović (1506-1579), Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (1565-1579), who was an ethnic Serb by birth, and so was Omar Pasha Latas.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Main article: Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Gajret

Main article: Gajret

Gajret (known as the Serbian Muslim Cultural Society after 1929) was a cultural society established in 1903 that promoted Serbian identity among the Slavic Muslims of Austria-Hungary (today's Bosnia and Herzegovina).^[11] The organization viewed that the Muslims were Serbs lacking ethnic consciousness.^[12] The view that Muslims were Serbs is probably the oldest of the three ethnic theories among the Bosnian Muslims themselves.^[13] It was dismantled by the Independent State of Croatia during World War II.^[14] Some members, non-Communists, joined or collaborated with the Yugoslav Partisans, while others joined the Chetniks.

World War I

Main article: World War I

Muslims joined the Serbian army in World War I. The majority were Muslims who had a Serb identity, declaring as Serbs.^[15] Among notable soldiers were Mustafa Golubić, Avdo Hasanbegović, Šukrija Kurtović, Ibrahim Hadžimerović, Fehim Musakadić, Hamid Kukić, Rešid Kurtagić, who all fought as Serbian volunteer officers at the Salonica front.^[16] Among the most active in the group of Muslims who were engaged in Yugoslav propaganda on Austro-Hungarian Muslim POWs were A. Hasanbegović, Azis Sarić, F. Musakadić, Alija Džemidžić, R. Kurtagić, Asim Šeremeta, Hamid Kukić and Ibrahim Hadžiomerović.^[17]

World War II

Main article: World War II

During World War II in Yugoslavia, a few Muslims joined the Chetniks. They espoused a Serb ethnic identity. The most notable of these was Ismet Popovac, who commanded the Muslim National Military Organization (Muslimanska narodna vojna organizacija, MNVO). The resolution of MNVO states that "Muslims are an integral part of Serbdom".^[18] World War I veteran Fehim Musakadić also joined the Chetniks.^[19]

SFR Yugoslavia

Main article: SFR Yugoslavia

Meša Selimović, Yugoslav writer declared himself as Serb Muslim.

Before the 1971 census, those of Slavic Muslim background in Yugoslavia could only legally declare themselves as Serb Muslims, Croat Muslims, or ethnically-undecided Muslims.^[20] The overwhelming majority chose the option "undetermined".^[21] After 1971, Slavs of Muslim ancestry were recognized as an ethnic group in their own right.

Some prominent Muslims in Yugoslavia openly declared as Serbs, such as the writer Meša Selimović.^[22]

Yugoslav Wars

Main article: Yugoslav Wars

During early talks of the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ejup Ganić remarked that the Bosniaks "are Islamized Serbs", and should thus join the Serb side, at a time when the SDA shifted in favour of siding with the Serbs and continuing the struggle against the Croats.^[23] Political analyst Jochen Hippler noted in 1994 that: "Muslims are mostly ethnically Serb, a minority Croat, but this did not save them from being slaughtered by their fellow ethnic groups for being different.".^[24]

Serb nationalists usually insisted that Bosnian Muslims were Serbs that had abandoned their faith.^[25] Serbian historiography emphasizes the Orthodox Serbian origin of the Bosniaks who are interpreted as relinquishing ties to the ethno-religious heritage after converting to Islam and later denying it by refusing to accept a Serbian identity.^[26][27] According to the wartime and post-war Bosniak historiography, Bosnian Muslims within the bulk of Serbian nationalist historiography are presented as the descendants of the mentally ill, lazy, slaves, greedy landlords, prisoners, thieves, outcasts or as Serbs who, confused and defeated, chose to follow their enemies religion. ^[28] On the one hand, Bosnian Muslims emphasize that they have no ties with Serbs or Croats, while on the other hand, Serbs emphasize the common origin and role that the occupiers played in the quarrel between the Balkan nations. ^[28]

Censuses

Serbian censuses

In the 2022 census in Serbia, of those who declared as ethnic Serbs, 0.08% (4,238) declared Islam as their religion.^[6]

Notable people

• Avdo Karabegović (1878–1908), Bosnian writer ^[29]
• Osman Đikić (1879–1912), Bosnian writer ^[29]
• Avdo Sumbul (1884–1915), journalist and pro-Serbian activist
• Muhamed Mehmedbašić (1886–1943), Bosnian revolutionary ^[30]
• Mustafa Golubić (1889–1941), Chetnik and Soviet intelligence officer ^[31]
• Hasan Rebac, writer
• Ismet Popovac (d. 1943), World War II Chetnik
• Fehim Musakadić (d. 1943), World War I Serbian soldier and World War II Chetnik
• Meša Selimović (1910–1982), Yugoslav writer
• Emir Kusturica (b. 1954), Serbian filmmaker
• Mustafa Mijajlović (b. 1972) Bosnian Serb sports commentator
• Sulejman Spaho (b. 1949) Serbian politician
• Celal Şengör b. 1955) Turkish scientist. According to himself, his paternal grandmother was of Serb origin.

See also

• Sandžak
• Bosniaks of Serbia
• Islam in Serbia

References

1. Gilles Veinstein (1997). "Sokollu Mehmed Pasha". In Clifford Edmund Bosworth (ed.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. 9 (2nd ed.). Leiden: Brill Publishers. pp. 706–7. ISBN 9789004104228.
2. Ana S. Trbovich (2008). A Legal Geography of Yugoslavia's Disintegration. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 69. ISBN 9780195333435.
3. Emine Fetvacı (2013). "Sokollu Mehmed Pasha's Career". Picturing History at the Ottoman Court. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 102. ISBN 9780253006783.
4. İlber Ortaylı (2006). Osmanlı'yı Yeniden Keşfetmek [Rediscovering the Ottoman Empire] (in Turkish). Istanbul: Timaş Yayınları. p. 119. Sokullu Mehmet Paşa ... Sırp asıllı bir ruhban ailesinden gelir.
5. Peter Bartl (1985). Grundzüge der jugoslawischen Geschichte [Basics of the Yugoslav History] (in German). Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. p. 38. ISBN 9783534080823. des serbischstämmigen Großvezirs Mehmed Pascha Sokolli
6. "Population by nationality and religion, by region".
7. Ethnicity/National Affiliation, Religion and Mother Tongue 2019, pp. 918–919.
8. "Population by religion and ethnic affiliation, Slovenia, 2002 Census". Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
9. "Čitaci | Hrvatska enciklopedija".
10. Jørgen Schøler Nielsen; Samim Akgönül; Ahmet Alibašić; Brigitte Maréchal; Christian Moe (2009). Yearbook of Muslims in Europe. BRILL. pp. 213–. ISBN 978-90-04-17505-1. and it is mainly frequented by Serb Muslims from Sandjak.
11. Allworth 1994, p. 125.
12. Allworth 1994, p. 126.
13. Allworth 1994, p. 116.
14. Emily Greble (2011). Sarajevo 1941–1945: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Hitler's Europe. Cornell University Press. pp. 121–. ISBN 978-0-8014-6121-7.
15. Драга Мастиловић (2009). Херцеговина у Краљевини Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца: 1918-1929. Филип Вишњић. p. 48. ISBN 978-86-7363-604-7.
16. Mustafa A. Mulalić (1936). Orijent na zapadu: savremeni kulturni i socijalni problemi Muslimana Jugoslovena. Skerlić. p. 172.
17. Istorijski glasnik: organ Društva istoričara SR Srbije. Društvo. 1980. p. 113.
18. Enver Redžić; Robert Donia (13 December 2004). Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War. Routledge. p. 153. ISBN 978-1-135-76736-5.
19. Prilozi. Vol. 20. Institut za istoriju. 1984. p. 100.
20. Francine Friedman (1996). The Bosnian Muslims: denial of a nation. Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-8133-2097-7. Promoting that policy, in the 1948 census the Bosnian Muslims were permitted to declare themselves as Serb- Muslims, Croat- Muslims, or nationally "undetermined" Muslims, revealing the stance of Communist leaders that held that Muslims ...
21. Philip Emil Muehlenbeck, ed. (2012). Religion and the Cold War: A Global Perspective. Vanderbilt University Press. p. 184. ISBN 9780826518521.
22. Trbovich 2008, p. 100.
23. Steven L. Burg; Paul S. Shoup (4 March 2015). Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention: Crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1990-93: Crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1990-93. Taylor & Francis. p. 341. ISBN 978-1-317-47101-1.
24. Jochen Hippler (1 April 1994). Pax Americana?: hegemony or decline. Pluto Press. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-7453-0695-7.
25. Emran Qureshi; Michael A. Sells (5 November 2003). The New Crusades: Constructing the Muslim Enemy. Columbia University Press. pp. 323–. ISBN 978-0-231-50156-9.
26. Bieber, Florian (2006). Post-War Bosnia: Ethnicity, Inequality and Public Sector Governance. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-230-50137-9.
27. Mekić, Sejad (2016). A Muslim Reformist in Communist Yugoslavia: The Life and Thought of Husein Đozo. Routledge. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-230-50137-9.
28. Alibašić, Ahmet (2014). "Bosnia and Herzegovina". In Cesari, Jocelyne (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of European Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 431. ISBN 978-0-19-102640-9.
29. Stanoje Stanojević; Jovan Jovanović; Slobodan Jovanović; Nikola Stojanović (1935). Srpski narod u XIX veku. Vol. 15. Geca Kon. p. 90.
30. Alija S. Konjhodžić (1974). Spomenica Bratstva: 1954-1974. p. 381.
31. Vojska. Vol. 11. Vojnoizdavački i novinski centar. 2002. p. 175.

Sources

• Allworth, Edward (1994). Muslim Communities Reemerge: Historical Perspectives on Nationality, Politics, and Opposition in the Former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-1490-8.
• Ceribašić-Begovac, Anaid (2017). Die Muslime im Sandschak Smederevo am Übergang vom 18. ins 19. Jahrhundert - Ein Vergleich zwischen der serbischen und bosnischen wissenschaftlichen Literatur (PDF) (Thesis). University of Graz.
• Ethnicity/National Affiliation, Religion and Mother Tongue (PDF). Sarajevo: Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 2019.
• Вукићевић, Миленко M. (1901). Знаменити Срби мухамеданци (Prominent Serb Muhamedans). Београд.
• Вукићевић, Миленко M. (1906). Знаменити Срби мусломани (Prominent Serb Muslims). Београд: Српска књижевна задруга.
• Вукићевић, Миленко M. (1998). Знаменити Срби муслимани (Prominent Serb Muslims). Београд: ННК.
• Раковић, Александар (2016). "Српски идентитет муслимана словенског порекла на постјугословенском простору у 21. веку (The Serb identity of Muslims of Slavic origin on post-Yugoslav space in the 21st century)" (PDF). Култура полиса: Часопис за неговање демократске политичке културе. 13 (31): 171–183.
• Republički zavod za statistiku Srbije (2014). "Etnomozaik" (PDF). Belgrade: Republički zavod za statistiku Srbije. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Trbovich, Ana S. (2008). A Legal Geography of Yugoslavia's Disintegration. Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 100–. ISBN 978-0-19-533343-5.

Further reading

• Lazo M. Kostić (1967). Nauka utvrduje narodnost B-X Muslimana.