THE FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY AND ITS RELIGIOUS OFFICIALS IN SOCIALIST YUGOSLAVIA
Authors: Novaković Dragan 
Published: November 2021

Implementing its policy, the new socialist government took various systematic measures to confiscate the major part of the property of the Islamic Community and, thus, make it dependant on the constant state aid. Understanding the reality and acting cooperatively and pragmatically, the newly elected leadership regulated their relations with the state and, thus, created the necessary room for manoeuvre, in order to lessen the harshness of taken measures, preserve the material substance and establish the basis for constant economic strengthening of the community and its religious officials. Carefully and cautiously implemented measures for solving the issue of vakuf properties, that initially had the form of registration and basic protection against dilapidation and, later, gained their original sense expressed through the standpoint that the proper attitude of all the structures of the religious community and the believers towards that issue was of crucial importance for preservation of Islam on Yugoslav territories. The processes of democratization and creating institutional assumptions for opening and solving some important issues, encouraged the Muslim intellectuals to start the debate on the confiscated property, and the Islamic Community leadership to publicly demand its return and use for the development of the Islamic education and culture. Freeing itself from the imposed mechanisms of control, continuously strengthening and feeling unconstrained in front of more and more obvious weaknesses of the state, the Islamic Community reactivated, started and successfully closed the complex process of reestablishing of the religious duty of collecting qurban skins and donations for forming the fund of Zakat and Zakat-ul-Fitr. Correctly estimating the sensibility of its members, the funds were publicly intended for founding of the Faculty of Islamic Studies and expansion of the schooling system, nevertheless, using the donations from foreign Islamic communities for completing the reconstruction of the planned buildings, indicated that the real aim of those activities was to discipline the believers and attach them to the Islamic Community. Handling those important issues, the Islamic Community created the conditions for constant improvement of the financial position of its religious officials, thus ensuring their loyalty and readiness for engagement in realization of all the planned activities, including implementation of measures for achieving certain political goals. Continuously stabilizing and strengthening its economic basis through the donations of the believers both from the country and abroad and the aid from the international Islamic organizations, the Islamic Community created the conditions for realization of an ambitious programme developed around the intensive erecting of religious buildings, education of religious officials adapted to modern conditions, expansion of the publishing activity, including women into the activities of the religious community, systematic religious education of the youngest generation and preparing for the times to come.