Posted on 01/27/2004 10:50:23 PM PST by Destro
Story last updated at 6:41 a.m. Sunday, January 25, 2004
Cleric urges Europeans to support Islam
Grand mufti says aid will curb attacks
New York Times
SARAJEVO, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA--Bosnia's most senior Muslim cleric has warned that European governments must do more to support Islam if they are to curb Islamic extremism.
Mustafa Ceric, the grand mufti of the estimated 2 million Muslims in the former Yugoslav republic, said in an interview in early January that Europe was failing to engage with Muslims, allowing militants to step in and create the kind of groups that have been used to recruit terrorists.
He called for European governments to help finance Islamic schools and to contribute to building mosques. Europe, he said, needs to "institutionalize" Islam, to give it "an official voice."
Ceric criticized countries that gave support to any single religious group. "Any state that claims one religion is a failure and is dangerous," he said.
The grand mufti, who spent five years as an imam in Chicago in the 1980s, said government involvement in institutions such as Islamic schools and mosques would help Muslims feel part of the state and limit the growth of extremists.
His comments are viewed as important in light of Bosnia's experience in the past decade. Since the civil war from 1992-95, there has been a reassertion of religious identity among Bosnian Muslims and growth in groups that U.S. officials say are linked to terrorism.
Muslims make up about half of Bosnia's population. The other two main religious groups are Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics.
Although the Islamic community contends it is the "European" branch of Islam, with an awareness of democracy and human rights, it has come under increasing pressure from more conservative movements, promoted by Saudi Arabian groups, which have provided support to some Bosnian groups. Some of the movements have been linked by U.S. and European officials to terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida.
Ceric, 52, said the failure of European governments to support the Islamic population in Bosnia had contributed to the dominance of Saudi-backed charities.
" 'You are receiving Saudi money,' " he quoted one official as telling him. "I said: 'Yes, we are rebuilding our mosques. When you start giving us money, we will say thanks to the Saudis' " and take European money instead.
Frane Maroevic, spokesman for the European Commission in Sarajevo, said members of the European Union had chosen not to give financial support to any of the three major religions in Bosnia after the civil war to avoid accusations of bias. He said the commission's overriding principle was to ensure that governments gave citizens the right to practice their faith, not to promote religion.
Was the Cleric implying a threat? Last time a Muslim estorted a dhimmi tax to an American the reply was "Millions For Defense, Not A Penny For Tribute".
Parasites, a good description.
If you don't support them they will attack you head on and if you do support them they will eat you alive slowly from the inside out.
Why don't they just say half the country is Muslim and the other half Christian? According to the FBI, the breakdown is: Muslim 40%, Orthodox 31%, Roman Catholic 15%, Protestant 4% and other 10%
Was the Cleric implying a threat? Last time a Muslim extorted a dhimmi tax to an American the reply was "Millions For Defense, Not A Penny For Tribute".
YEah sure, they might as well finance Al Queda training camps...there is little difference. Too late Europe sees that the Serbs were the horse they should have been backing. Now they are left with 2 million dangerous Muslims (who look white and can pentrate Europe with ease as suicide bombers when given their orders from Riyadh) and an Al Queda vassal state in Kosovo. Nice work, EU, NATO, Madame Albright, Clinton and General Clark.
This is the last chance for civilization. Europe must DEPORT their Muslims, or be destroyed. There is NO alternative.
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