Muslim Group Launches Conversion Campaign In Bosnia

SARAJEVO — During the past week, an international Wahhabi
organization has launched a campaign in Bosnia-Herzegovina calling on
non-Muslims to convert to Islam.

The organization, which calls itself
"Poziv u Raj" (Invitation To Heaven), has been putting up slick billboards and
posters and distributing leaflets in Sarajevo, Bihac, Sanski Most, Maglaj,
Zenica, Travnik, Tuzla, and Tesanj.

The group also has been organizing
public lectures in Bosnian cities and towns by a Greek man and a German man who
recently converted to Islam.

Those recent converts have repeated the
group's call for non-Muslims to convert to Islam. They have also been
criticizing traditionally liberal Bosnian Muslims, claiming that many Bosniaks
are not practicing true Islam.

At one recent lecture, Greek convert
Efstatioss Tsionis, claimed that 60 percent of Bosniaks do not pray, 70 percent
of the women do not "cover themselves," and 90 percent of Bosniaks drink
alcohol.

The campaign raised concerns among non-Muslims in the
overwhelmingly Muslim town of Maglaj when leaflets urging conversion to Islam
were placed at the Roman Catholic church.

Local Catholics in Maglaj have
complained about the leaflets to Mayor Mehmed

Some in Bosnia say the Wahhabis are importing foreign
fundamentalism.

, scheduling a meeting with Mustabasic and with
representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church to discuss the
issue.

Members of the Wahhabi group have also personally handed leaflets
to three Roman Catholic nuns in Maglaj. Such incidents have caused widespread
indignation among ethnic Croats in the town — some of whom say they feel
intimidated by the group's strict Islamic rhetoric.

Imported
Islamists?

A parish priest, Jakov Filipovic, tells RFE/RL's
Balkan Service that the incidents have raised the awareness of Bosnian officials
about the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in parts of the
country.

"Maybe it is good that the media have spoken out in the sense
that we are not fooling ourselves," Filipovic says. "Some people say such things
are not happening here. But this will draw attention to what is really going on
here. This should be resolved by [public officials] who are responsible so that
such things do not happen again."

A local Serbian Orthodox priest,
Dalibor Djekic, says that he found one of the Wahhabi leaflets posted on the
door of his church. "This is an ugly message to me as a representative of my
people and to my people," he says. "I am aware that ordinary [Bosniaks], who
have lived together for centuries with Serbs and Orthodox believers in these
parts of the country, are not behind this. Even they — my acquaintances and
neighbors who heard about this — are appalled."