Ševko Omerbašić (9 June 1945 – 31 October 2024) was a Croatian

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

who was president of the Islamic Community in Croatia and Slovenia.

Biography

Omerbašić was born in Ustikolina, near

Foča Foča ( sr-Cyrl, Фоча, ) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in the south-east on the banks of Drina river. As of 2013, the town has a population of 12,234 inhabitants, while the municipality has 1 ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, presently in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He finished elementary school in his birthplace and went to

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

where he entered high school, the

Gazi Husrev Bey's Madrasa ''JU Gazi Husrev-begova medresa, Sarajevo'' (''Javna ustanova Gazi Husrev-begova medresa u Sarajevu''; ) is a high school and college, a madrasa in Arabic, founded on 8 January 1537 CE and built in Sarajevo as Gazi Husrev-beg's second endowment. I ...

which he attended from 1956 until 1964. After he finished high school education, he worked as an

Rudo Rudo ( sr-cyrl, Рудо) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 7,963 inhabitants, while the town of Rudo has a population of 1,949 inhabitants. It is famous throughout form ...

, and then he returned to Ustikolina also as imam. Soon after he enlisted into the Yugoslav Army, and after that he went to be educated in Libya at the Islamic University of Libya where he studied

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. He returned to Yugoslavia in 1975 and was appointed imam of

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

. In 1988 he became chief

mufti A mufti (; , ) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion ('' fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatāwa'' have played an important role thro ...

of the Islamic Communities in Croatia and Slovenia. In 1990 when the Seniority of the Islamic Community of Croatia and Slovenia was founded, Omerbašić was named its president and thus he got the title "mufti". He taught for five years at the Jesuit Faculty of Philosophy of Society at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

; for ten years he taught the history of Islam, interpretation of the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

, Arabic language and Islamic studies at Zagreb's Dr. Ahmed Smajlović Madrasa. Omerbašić attended two years of religious pedagogy at Catechetical Institute of the Catholic Theological Faculty in Zagreb. In the 2017 Zagreb local elections Omberbašić was elected member of the Zagreb City Assembly as a candidate of

Milan Bandić Milan Bandić (22 November 1955 – 28 February 2021) was a Croatian politician and the longest-serving mayor of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Bandić was mayor almost continuously from 2000 to 2021, except during the time between his resignati ...

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

. Omerbašić died on 30 October 2024, at the age of 79.

Views

Omerbašić was known for inter-religious tolerance. As he was teaching, he introduced the practice of sending his students to

Catholic mass The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass "the same Christ ...

. He was also an opponent of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

committed by Islamic extremists, explaining that such things occur because of misreading the Qur'an.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Omerbasic, Sevko 1945 births 2024 deaths 20th-century imams 21st-century imams People from Foča Bosniaks of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Sunni Muslims Gazi Husrev Bey's Madrasa alumni University of Zagreb alumni University of Libya alumni Bosnia and Herzegovina imams Croatian imams