Muslim Slavs
Muslim Slavs or Slavic Muslims are ethnic groups or sub-ethnic groups of Slavs who are followers of Islam. The term is most often used in the study of the Balkans. The majority of Slavic Muslims are found in Bosnia and Herzegovina, southern Serbia and south-west Bulgaria[1] and North Macedonia.
South Slavic Muslims
South Slavic Muslims can be divided in two main groups:
- South Slavic Muslims of Bulgaria: Muslim Bulgarians (or Pomaks);
- South Slavic Muslims of former Yugoslavia and its successor states, encompassing several ethnic groups and sub-groups (in alphabetical order):
- Bosniaks, by majority adherents of Islam; concentrated in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and also in Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Croatia and Slovenia;
- Gorani people, a small ethnoreligious community in Serbia, Kosovo,[a] Albania, and North Macedonia;
- Muslim Croats, adherents of Islam among Croats;
- Muslim Macedonians (or Torbeši), adherents of Islam among ethnic Macedonians;
- Muslim Serbs, adherents of Islam among Serbs;
- Muslims (ethnic group), one of six constitutive peoples in former Yugoslavia; since 1993 mainly opted to adopt ethnic Bosniak designation; remaining communities who kept previous designation are concentrated mainly in Serbia and Montenegro.
Ethnic Slavic Muslims in the Western Balkans follow Hanafi, a subcategory of Sunni Islam.[2] According to the religious ideology of Christoslavism, coined by Michael Sells, "the belief that Slavs are Christian by nature and that any conversion from Christianity is a betrayal of the Slavic race"[3] as seen in Croatian and Serbian nationalism, Slavic Muslim are not regarded part of their ethnic kin, as by conversion to Islam, they become "Turks".[4]
See also
- Muslims by country
- Greek Muslims
- Muslim world
- Saqaliba
Notes
| a. | ^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008. Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the 2013 Brussels Agreement. Kosovo is currently recognized as an independent state by 98 out of the 193 United Nations member states. In total, 113 UN member states recognized Kosovo at some point, of which 15 later withdrew their recognition. |
References
- Mike Dixon-Kennedy (1998). Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic Myth and Legend. ABC-CLIO. pp. 260–. ISBN 978-1-57607-063-5.
- Sabrina P. Ramet (1989). Religion and Nationalism in Soviet and East European Politics. Duke University Press. pp. 380–. ISBN 978-0-8223-0891-1.
- Steven L. Jacobs (2009). Confronting Genocide: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Lexington Books. pp. 82–. ISBN 978-0-7391-3589-1.
- Omer Bartov; Phyllis Mack (1 January 2001). In God's Name: Genocide and Religion in the Twentieth Century. Berghahn Books. pp. 183–. ISBN 978-1-57181-302-2.