Husein Kavazović

Husein ef. Kavazović (born 3 July 1964) is a Bosnian cleric serving as Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina since November 2012.

Effendi Husein Kavazović
Kavazović in 2017
Title	13th Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Personal life
Born	(1964-07-03) 3 July 1964 (age 61) Jelovče Selo, PR Bosnia and Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Bosnian
Alma mater	Al-Azhar University University of Sarajevo
Religious life
Religion	Islam
Denomination	Sunni
School	Hanafi
Muslim leader
Period in office	19 November 2012 – present
Predecessor	Mustafa Cerić
Previous post	Mufti of Tuzla

Biography

Son of Hasan and Saima Kavazović,^[1] Husein attended primary schools in Gradačac and then enrolled at the Gazi Husrev Bey's Madrasa in Sarajevo, where he graduated in 1983. He left Yugoslavia to study Islamic law from 1985 to 1990 at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, then came back to defend his master's thesis at the Faculty of Islamic Studies at the University of Sarajevo, in the field of Sharia law.^[2][3]

Kavazović then worked as imam, khatib and muallim (lecturer) at the Islamic congregations of Srebrenik and Gradačac, before serving as mufti of Tuzla from 1993 to 2012. In the early 1990s, he was also elected member of the Council of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In 2012, the Islamic Community elected Kavazović to succeed Mustafa Cerić as the Bosnian Grand Mufti; at the vote in the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, the main mosque of Sarajevo, he received 240 of 382 preferences. In his election program, Kavazović had pushed inter alia for the co-operation with other religious communities and a wider "incorporation of women into the work of the Islamic religious community".

Under an agreement, Kavazović was suggested to also serve as Grand Mufti of Hungary.^[4] During his mandate as Grand Mufti, mosques were opened in Ljubljana and Sisak.^[5][6][7]

He speaks Bosnian, Arabic and English.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Controversies

Kavazović has been attacked and threatened multiple times, together with other Bosnian Muslim officials, in the Bosnian language edition of the ISIS magazine, Rumiyah.^[12]

Notes

• Michael Martens: Gegen Rache und Küsse: Das neue Oberhaupt der bosnischen Muslime tritt sein Amt an, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 16 November 2012
• Meldung über die Wahl von Kavazović bei "Nachrichten.at" retrieved 15 December 2012
• Meldung der Deutschen Welle über die Wahl von Kavazović retrieved 15 December 2012
• Biografija reisu-l-uleme mr. Husein ef. Kavazovića (Rijaset Islamske zajednice u Bosni i Hercegovini)