Before the war, women in full-body coverings and men with long beards
were a rare sight. Today, though, they hardly turn a head.
Wahhabism is quickly gaining ground in the country, with polls showing that 13 percent of Bosnian Muslims support the conservative Sunni Islam reform movement. The movement is financed primarily by Saudi Arabian backers, who have invested well over a half-billion euros in Bosnia's development -- especially in the construction of over 150 mosques. The 8,187 square meter (88,124 square foot) King Fahd Mosque in Sarajevo alone cost €20 million euros ($29 million), and it's also where radicals go to pray.
In trying to transform the country into a theocracy, the new preachers
of fundamental Islam aren't just fighting with the Koran. In Kalesija, militant
Wahhabis drove out the local imam after a fight (between local Muslims and the
Wahhabis). In the village of Dedici, residents took up their shotguns to defend
their mosque against the attacking fanatics. Recently, the Careva Mosque
(Emperor's Mosque) in Sarajevo locked its doors during prayer for the first time
in its 441-year history when a group of Wahhabis tried to enter and perform
their own prayer rites.
All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!
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