Rad po sposobnostima (jedan osvrt iz 1929. godine – i danas aktuelan)
Work according to one’s own abilities (a review from 1929 – still relevant today)

Summary/Abstract: In the now already very distant year of 1929, almost a hundred years from our time, in the Sarajevo semi-monthly magazine “Novi Behar” – the most popular newspaper of the Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks), a review of Hafiz Ibrahim Mehinagić from Gračanica was published, under the title “Work according to one’s own abilities”. During that time Mehinagić was a relatively young Sharia Judge serving in his hometown, but also a socially engaged intellectual. Motivated by the situation in the Bosniak society and Muslim community of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the controversies and confrontations of the so called religious and secular intelligentsia, Mehinagić particularly emphasized the position and principles of Islam regarding the appointment to leadership positions and callings, which dictate that these should be carried out exclusively on the basis of personal ability and professional qualifications. In this text Mehinagić also warns that “such paradoxes also occur, that an imam without any banking or business training sits on the board of directors of a major bank, and that the bank clerk is busy giving advice on how to solve our autonomous, religious, educational and waqf-mearif issues.” The warning against such bad practices in the so called staffed, mentioned by Mehinagić, in many ways reminds us of today’s times and similar phenomena in society – to not call these out outright as paradoxes. And what to say about the sheer mass of so called “analysts” on our TV screens or in our columns, who confidently explain and interpret every possible topic, phenomenon, process or problem in our society, whether it is political, sociological, economic or of any other nature (and mainly in a field in which the concerned analysts have no professional background). Because of all this it seems more than appropriate to remind us of this text, keeping in mind that it has not lost anything of its relevance in its basic message. On the contrary.

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