The Oriental-Islamic culture has left recognizable, deep and indelible traces in the religious and social life of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since it is a culture where the private and public life are equally close, a culture that advocates transcendental and immanent goods at the same time, as well as a culture which is determined and inspired by religious pluralism and tolerance for different religious teachings and traditions, the Bosnian and Herzegovinian experience of co-existence is to a large extent unique and incomparable in the world. The close and direct interaction between Muslims, Jews and Christians in the daily life of Bosnia and Herzegovina has spontaneously formed a spirit of natural and unprompted coexistence, the fruitful cultural and civilizational cooperation and communication. 

It is impossible to decipher the code for in-depth and subtle understanding of the phenomenon of Bosnian and Herzegovinian cosmopolitism without the thorough understanding of “Bosnian Islam”.

A better and more comprehensible explanation of all the nuances of the Bosnian living of Islam in a multireligious context would require far more space. On this occasion, we would only like to draw attention to an outstanding study in pastoral sociology by Norwegian writer Tone Bringe Being Muslim the Bosnian Way, which describes personal experiences of this distinguished female scholar pertaining to the distinctive folk expressions of religion and religious feelings by Muslims in Central Bosnia.

Indeed, authorities in Islamic studies point out that in the normative sense, Islam cannot be ascribed geographical, racial or ethnic attributes. However, at the level of “folk” religion, one can identify certain regional particularities resulting from the interaction between Islamic teaching and local traditions.

Some segments of the Oriental-Islamic civilization in the Balkans constitute one of recognizable components in the cultures of South Slavic peoples. Thus, some concepts and rules of Islam have been accepted by non-Muslims as well in purely formal sense, since their rich symbolic meaning could be applied in their religious practice as well, without the fear of heresy.

It is interesting to note that Balkan Christians have thus taken over and accepted the purely Islamic religious terms for some of their religious concepts. The well-known Islamic ritual “qurbani” is in a way practiced by non-Muslims in the Balkans as well. Almost all the Balkan nations use the term “qurbani” for the “sacrifice during the construction or the sacrifice to the deceased“. Besides, the Islamic term “ćaba” (Kaaba) was adopted by Christians to denote Jerusalem and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Christ is believed to be buried. Muslim term for the act of paying a visit to Kaaba is hajj, and for pilgrims who make a pilgrimage to Kaaba - hajjis. Although the visitors of the Christian Church of Balkan Slavs are often called pilgrims, the term for visitors to a Christian church in daily language is hajjis, same as among Muslims.

“Christian hajjis” travel to Jerusalem visiting all the important churches and monasteries on their way. 

In olden days, these visits used to be called ziyarets. Interestingly, Muslims also call their visits to important mosques and tombs during their sight-seeing in Medina and Mecca ziyarets. The fire used to light candles in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on Easter was called ‘nur’ or ‘holy nur’ by Christians, although the word ‘nur’ is of Arabic origin and has a rich semantic and spiritual meaning which signifies a special “Divine light“. 

Islamic influences on the Catholic church in Bosnia can be seen in the devout praying practice of genuflection “on small knees”. Some researchers believe that the practice includes the custom in which village women still carrier small rugs called ‘rag’, with nice patterns and decorations, to kneel on them. One can easily see the similarity with Muslim sejadahs, which are spread for prayer. 

On the other hand, Muslim themselves have been open to cultural influences by non-Muslims. Since Hijri calendar was unsuitable for agricultural works, and for keeping track of the seasons, Muslims were guided both by Hijri dates and by dates of Christian festivities. Moreover, Muslims even symbolically celebrated some of these festivities, although it should be noted that these festivities are Christian only in form. Celebration of St. George's Day is related to many activities with apotropaic and divination features dating back to ancient Slavic times. Folk festivities and prayers on St. Elijah's Day (Aliđun) often took place on heights. The symbolism of Alidjun among Muslims is related to the process of the spreading of Islam in Bosnia. The popular saying “Elijah until noon, Alija from the noon on” is aimed at pointing to the pre-Islamic origin of Bosnian Muslims, as well as at finding an excuse for celebrating Alidjun.

Multiculturalism of Bosnia and Herzegovina probably found the fertile ground in the centuries-old nourishing of neighborhood. Neighborhood as a moral principle which originated from Islam has also been nourished in the case of non-Muslims, and the same principles have also been adopted by Christians and Jews toward their Muslim neighbors. In this way, rather than underscoring connection on the basis of ethnic origin, or the same religious affiliation – which ultimately separates people – importance was attached to the spatial closeness, and neighborhood in the communication, cultural and civilizational sense was understood far more broadly than the usual spatial closeness.

Neighborhood at a local level, in the area of coexistence of members of different religious tradition, made up a compact cohesive association, often far tighter and stronger than the confessional association. Building neighborly relations overcame religious differences and animosities. Thus, people in Bosnia believe that neighborhood hak (right) is even stronger than family right.

Over time, the cult of neighborhood began to spread to the axiological level. The common denominator of belonging to the universal values of neighborhood, of living and practicing these moral values was expressed in respect for every neighbor who shares these values, regardless of his religious and national affiliation.

The meaning of this true communion in values, rather than proving the formal communion based on ethnic affiliation, can be recognized in the following Alija Izetbegović's words: “I respect a good Christian more than a wretched Muslim. I cannot defend something only because it is Muslim (not Islamic) or ignore something good only because it is not”.