O POLOŽAJU ISLAMSKE VJERSKE ZAJEDNICE U KRALJEVINI JUGOSLAVIJI (1929-1941)
ON THE POSITION OF ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY IN THE KINGDOM OF YUGOSLAVIA (1929-1941)

Summary/Abstract: As a part of the January 6th system, which aimed to put all the areas of public life under control, there was also a policy of establishing full control of IVZ (Islamic Religious Community). The change of the state and national policy after 1929 conditioned the adoption the new law on IVZ (January 31, 1930) and IVZ Constitution (July 9, 1930). Formal organizational unity of IVZ was established in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia; however the state preserved strong mechanisms of control over the Islamic religious life and education. Reisu-l-ulema Džemaludin Čaušević courageously and consistently opposed such organization of IVZ, and was ultimately retired due to those efforts. However, as the overall political situation became more complicated and as the January 6th policy dissolved, the government in Belgrade tried to win the support of the Bosniak representatives. As a condition to enter the Stojadinović-Korošec Government, Mehmed Spaho asked for adoption of the new law and a new Constitution of IVZ, which were, after a series of negotiations, adopted in 1936. With this, IVZ partly recovered the right of the independent election of its bodies and the freedom of management of its own property within the framework of general state control. Progress in development of the autonomy of IVZ did not mean, however, that this community resolved all its problems. As long as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia existed there were many different forms of disrespect of the Islamic rules and rights of the IVZ members, shown both by individuals, and by the state officials. Despite all this, in this period, IVZ played a very important role in the confirmation and preservation of specificities of the Bosniak people.

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