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Is Islamic law still valid in Europe? This paper argues “yes”—though not in the form of hard “law” but rather in the form of soft “norms” which are not state-sanctioned, but still carry heavy significance for practicing Muslims. The paper examines cases where Islamic moral, ethical and in some cases legal norms can be applied in a secular country without clashing with state laws. It further demonstrates that, based on fatawa issued by Islamic scholars in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Islamic norms may still apply for Muslims living in secular European states, although they are not legally binding. This may be illustrated by classifying norms into religious (God's commandment to fast, pray, give alms), moral–ethical (consumption of alcohol, dressing properly) and Islamic legal norms (marriage, divorce, inheritance). The conclusion is that a vast majority of these norms can be adhered to by Muslims either within the scope of guaranteed religious freedoms in civil society or may otherwise be applied without clashing with secular civil laws. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents the history of higher Islamic education in Bosnia and Hercegovina, from the Mekteb-i-Nuwwab to the Faculty of Islamic Studies. It discusses the impact of the establishment and abolishment of the Higher School for Islamic Shari'a and Theology in 1945. It notes that the reopening of an Islamic higher education institution, known as the Faculty of Islamic Theology, was caused by Islam revitalization in the 1970s.

The collapse of the Socialist Federation of Yugoslavia and the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 saw Islam in Bosnia and the Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) go through some enormous changes and difficult times. The Serbian aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina started a war which was to last four years and which caused the destruction of hundreds of mosques and the loss of more than 100,000 lives, a vast majority of them being Muslims. Although having started in the late 1970s in Yugoslavia, a trend of returning to Islam, often referred to as Islamic revival or Islamic renaissance, intensified during the war. Humanitarian agencies and volunteers from the Middle East brought with them not only food and medicine, but also new Islamic teachings which they considered necessary to 're-Islamize' the deeply secularized Bosnian Muslims. This paper aims to look at Islamic revival starting from the 1970s through the war and the post-war period. The activities of Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran will be analyzed and their methods of spreading Islam will be examined and compared. The picture gained from Bosnia is a small-scale version of the activities of major sponsors of global Islamic revival and hence a good insight into the activities, methods and possible outcomes worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The joint impact of the collapse of communism, war and globalisation resulted in new Islamic ideas reaching Bosnia and Herzegovina from central Muslim lands. These ideas spread during the chaotic war years and some have managed to challenge the official Islamic community and its monopoly over the interpretation of Islam. This article identifies the three main foreign factors currently active in Bosnia and looks at how they made their way to Bosnia, how they work, and how they have managed to provide alternative Islamic teachings. Finally, this article also looks at how Bosnian Muslim intellectuals and the Islamic community have reacted to such challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]