Bosnian imam impugns violence

He says religion could not be Trolley shooting motive

SARAJEVO — Nezim Halilovic, the main imam of the Bosnian Islamic Organization and arguably the most influential religious leader in Bosnia, does not believe the Trolley Square shooter was motivated by his Muslim religion.

The shooter, Sulejman Talovic, moved from eastern Bosnia to America at an early age, Halilovic said. "He was a child then. The motive that brought him to do that, the crime, should be investigated.

"I think that here, in this case, it wasn't a religious motive, because Islam doesn't embrace terrorism or violence. It's something Islam just doesn't preach."

However, Muslims are allowed to fight for self-protection under prescribed rules, according to the imam.

A Deseret Morning News reporter interviewed Halilovic Monday in his offices at the Islamic Center in Sarajevo. Adi Sokolija, a university student who has been working as a guide for the newspaper, translated.

Besides directing the society, every Friday Halilovic teaches at the King Fahd mosque in Sarajevo, which he notes is the largest mosque in the Balkans. It was built through donations of King Fahd, the late ruler of Saudi Arabia.

The imam is a distinguished-looking man of middle age, who was wearing a dark suit and a tie with a clip. His gray hair was offset by a short, dark beard. On his desk were a small, decoratively carved wooden chest; a jar of honey; a cup holding many pens; a tiny replica of a mosque; and several copies of the Quran. The screen saver on the computer beside him showed religious buildings.

Ethnic cleansing

He said that when Western countries encourage Muslims from Bosnia to leave their country and work in the West as poorly paid workers, they help the vicious practice of ethnic cleansing.

So, many Bosnian Muslims have gone to other countries, Halilovic said, and after a few decades, they will not have any connection with their country of birth. "They'll just be French, German or some other group.

"The possibility is that they will have children, and those children will be taught that way," he said. "In that way, the whole world is helping in the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia."

Ethnic cleansing was the genocidal war launched by some Serbs against Bosnia's Muslims, which continued from 1992 to 1995. It ended with a peace agreement drafted in Dayton, Ohio, the Dayton Accords. When the fighting was over, ethnic Serbs had carved out a new entity, the Republika Srpska, from part of what was once Bosnia, but the enclave is not the same as the country Serbia.

In 10 years, when American and European Union peacekeepers have left Bosnia, "the Serbs can just vote themselves to take the whole country," said Halilovic, who was commandant of the 4th Muslim Brigade defending against the Serb invasion.

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