How a Bosnian Muslim Changed My Perception of Islam and of Muslims in General
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Awhile back, a new person was assigned to the cubicle across from me. He was young, strapping, polite and just seemed to carry himself well. He is white but had a foreign look to him. By interacting with him, I was to find out he was from Bosnia and to my surprise a Muslim.
I never would have guessed he was Muslim. How can he be a Muslim? He is as white as me and is clean shaven. Here in the USA when we think of Islam we typically think of the Middle East. I sensed no anger or hatred on his behalf. He didn't seem intolerant, irrational or violent. He was not making a scene by praying 12 times a day in his cubicle towards Mecca. I actually would not mind if he did do this as long as he was not too loud :)
No, I'm not uneducated; in fact, I have a college degree. Stereotypes are very powerful things and this Muslim/Islam one I had never quite left behind. I was born in the late 60s and brought up in the rural Midwest. As a young boy, Western stereotypes of Islam and of Muslims were fed to me and often reinforced through the media. I'm middle aged now and of course realize there are millions of Muslims in Indonesia and elsewhere around the world---not just in the Middle East.
Becoming friends with this individual has changed my views of Islam and of Muslims for the better. I'm glad my belief system in this regard has been challenged and shaken. I never really wanted to believe all Muslims were that horrendously bad anyway. We human beings tend to generalize don't we? Bad, bad, bad!
He and I are now friends. He is in his late twenties now but lived through all the horrible stuff that took place in the Balkans a few years ago i.e. Milosevich, Nato Bombing under President Clinton, Nationalistic/Ethnic/Religious turmoil...remember? He found himself in a Serb concentration camp and has shared many stories with me from that time.
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His life is very different now. He comes across as rock solid in every way i.e. talent, intellect, decency, is well liked and on and on. I trust no one more than he in the entire office and there are many employees. I'm not worried about him beheading me or blowing himself up as a martyr :) He is married to a beautiful, Bosnian, Muslim woman and has, in general, a very bright future. I am much older than he and make sure I am good to him and look out for him. I don't go far out of my way for many in the work place but do for him because I admire and respect him so much.
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Bosnians are culturally similar to Turks, and both are very different then Arabs, Persians (Iranians), Afghans, Pakistanis etc. Each of those "nations" have different wiews on Islam and none should be called "relaxed" or "anormal". Its just different.
Tv shows only some crazy muslims that scare the hell out of other muslims too. The truth is that muslims are really really nice and kind people:) OK..with some crazy individuals..loud and explosive individuals:S
The thing is that different muslim nations take different sources of islam.
Bosnians and Turks are focused on Quran and Quranic values. Arabs search knowledge mostly in Hadith-stories about what someone said that someone said that someone said that Prophet said 300 years ago (those books were written 300 years after Prophets death and are collections of narrations that were orally transmitted by beduins. I made it sound like a disease, but my english is not perfect,what can I do:))So here's an example of how that makes a difference: head covering is not mentioned in the Quran,its mentioned in Hadith. Stoning people is not mention in Quran,its in Hadith. Etc..
Personally I think the Hadith are full of arab tradition and not really words of Prophet. Quran is word of God and should be the source of Islam.
Another thing I would like to say is-word Allah is simply an arab word for God. Same like God in english, dios in spanish, Bog in slavic. In bosnia we call God Bog most of the times. But we also call him Allah. So Allah is not some new God-its same God, one an only God, that Christians believe in.
Also the Quran is not some book of totally different ideas. It is like newest part of Bible where some misunderstandings are cleared (for example we believe Jesus was a prophet and not God). But most of things are totally the same-biblical stories, prophets, religious values,rules etc.
I am late for my favorite mexican telenovela now, must run!
A,
Wow thanks for your informative and educational input! Your comments add nicely to the article. Thanks again and best wishes!!
Yeah, Bosnia is a predominantly (48%) muslim country.
During the Ottoman Empire the Turks conquered the former Yugoslavia; Bosnia was the most culturally affected by this as a lot of people converted to Islam.
Bosnians are a Slavic race, more specifically South Slavs (as are Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, Macedonians and Bulgarians).
Russians and Ukranians are East Slavs and Poles and Czech are West Slavs.
This is why they are white. They are not Middle-Eastern; they are Eastern European.
Culturally they are also Eastern-European... on the whole they are very relaxed when it comes to religion. Many of them drink, bars are easy to find and the average woman doesn't cover up... unless you go to little rural villages you won't see many of them wearing headscarves.
The government in Bosnia is secular, as is the culture to a great extent... fundamentalism/extremism isn't tolerated, people will laugh at you.
Compared to other Muslim countries, Bosnia is a bit of an anomale.
Missing Link Hub Author 6 weeks ago
Bosniak,
Thanks so much for your comments and adding valuable info to the hub. Hope you enjoyed your Mexican telenovela!