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The most widely professed religion in Bosnia and Herzegovina is Islam and the second biggest religion is Christianity. Nearly all the Muslims of Bosnia are followers of the Sunni denomination of Islam ; the majority of Sunnis follow the Hanafi legal school of thought ( fiqh ) and Maturidi theological school of thought ( kalām ). [ 2 ]
Muslims make the largest religious community in Bosnia and Herzegovina (50%) (the other two large groups being Eastern Orthodox Christians (31%), almost all of whom identify as Serbs, and Roman Catholics (16%), almost all of whom identify as Croats).
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, religion is often linked to ethnicity, i.e. (with the exception of agnostics and atheists) most Bosniaks are Muslim, Serbs are Orthodox Christian, and Croats are Roman Catholic.
The Christian elites in Bosnia and Herzegovina accepted Croatian and Serbian identities as their own, which resulted in a rapid rise of Croatian and Serbian nationalism in the country. The Muslims on the other hand, gathered around their religious and landowning elites, requesting religious autonomy.
In the later Ottoman period, Bosnia attracted Muslim refugees from lands that were reconquered by Christian powers (mainly Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia). [10] Some converted to Islam as a way to escape the devşirme tribute (whereby the son of Christian family would be taken for military service ).
Bosnia and Herzegovina [a] (Serbo-Croatian: Bosna i Hercegovina, Босна и Херцеговина), [b] [c] sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe, situated on the Balkan Peninsula. It borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to the north and southwest.
Croats and Serbs who opposed the imperial policy and identified with nationalist ideas, ignored claims of Bosnian nationhood and instead counted Bosnian Muslims as part of their own nations, a concept that was rejected by most Bosnian Muslims. [25] [26] Following the death of Kallay, the policy was abandoned.
The Muslim population was mostly urban and comprised the majority in most of Bosnia and Herzegovina towns (Sarajevo, Tuzla, Banja Luka) as in western (Cazin and along the Una valley (Pounje)) and eastern (along the Drina valley) border areas of the country. In general, Muslims were the dominant group in most developed urban centers of the country.