Serb Muslims

The term has several particular uses:

• The term derived from the Turkish "Çıtacı", a word used to refer to traders who sell wooden boards.
• In ethnographic, historical and comparative religious studies it is used as a designation for Islamized families of ethnic Serb descent.
• It has been used as a self-identification (Čitaci) in former Yugoslavia.
• It is used in historical studies to identify Ottoman people of Serb origin.
• It is used for the Muslim population in the region of Sandžak (Serbia).{{cite book|author1=Jørgen Schøler Nielsen|author2=Samim Akgönül|author3=Ahmet Alibašić |author4=Brigitte Maréchal |author5=Christian Moe |title=Yearbook of Muslims in Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WiijLleylbEC&pg=PA213|year=2009|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-17505-1|pages=213–|quote=and it is mainly frequented by Serb Muslims from Sandjak.}}

File:Omer_Pacha.jpg (1806-1871), who was ethnic Serb by birth]]

File:Srbi muslimani iz Sarajeva.jpg, 1913]]

Since Serbs were, and still are, predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christians, their first significant historical encounter with Islam occurred in the second half of the 14th century, and was marked by the Turkish invasion and conquest of Serbian lands (starting in 1371 and ending by the beginning of the 16th century). That interval was marked by the first wave of Islamization among Serbs. In some regions, a substantial minority left Christianity and converted to Islam, willingly or by necessity, under the influence of the Ottoman authorities. The most notable Muslim of Serb ethnicity was Mehmed-paša Sokolović (1506-1579), Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (1565-1579), who was an ethnic Serb by birth, and so was Omar Pasha Latas.

{{main|Kingdom of Yugoslavia}}

{{main|Gajret}}

Gajret (known as the Serbian Muslim Cultural Society after 1929) was a cultural society established in 1903 that promoted Serbian identity among the Slavic Muslims of Austria-Hungary (today's Bosnia and Herzegovina).{{sfn|Allworth|1994|p=125}} The organization viewed that the Muslims were Serbs lacking ethnic consciousness.{{sfn|Allworth|1994|p=126}} The view that Muslims were Serbs is probably the oldest of the three ethnic theories among the Bosnian Muslims themselves.{{sfn|Allworth|1994|p=116}} It was dismantled by the Independent State of Croatia during World War II.{{cite book|author=Emily Greble|title=Sarajevo 1941–1945: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Hitler's Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=je_GozR8wRMC&pg=PA121|year=2011|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-6121-7|pages=121–}} Some members, non-Communists, joined or collaborated with the Yugoslav Partisans, while others joined the Chetniks.

{{main|World War I}}

Muslims joined the Serbian army in World War I. The majority were Muslims who had a Serb identity, declaring as Serbs.{{cite book|author=Драга Мастиловић|title=Херцеговина у Краљевини Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца: 1918-1929|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_motAQAAIAAJ|year=2009|publisher=Филип Вишњић|isbn=978-86-7363-604-7|page=48}} Among notable soldiers were Mustafa Golubić, Avdo Hasanbegović, Šukrija Kurtović, Ibrahim Hadžimerović, Fehim Musakadić, Hamid Kukić, Rešid Kurtagić, who all fought as Serbian volunteer officers at the Salonica front.{{cite book|author=Mustafa A. Mulalić|title=Orijent na zapadu: savremeni kulturni i socijalni problemi Muslimana Jugoslovena|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OHoxAQAAIAAJ|year=1936|publisher=Skerlić|page=172}} Among the most active in the group of Muslims who were engaged in Yugoslav propaganda on Austro-Hungarian Muslim POWs were A. Hasanbegović, Azis Sarić, F. Musakadić, Alija Džemidžić, R. Kurtagić, Asim Šeremeta, Hamid Kukić and Ibrahim Hadžiomerović.{{cite book|title=Istorijski glasnik: organ Društva istoričara SR Srbije|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TTUWAQAAMAAJ|year=1980|publisher=Društvo|page=113}}

{{main|World War II}}

During World War II in Yugoslavia, a few Muslims joined the Chetniks. They espoused a Serb ethnic identity. The most notable of these was Ismet Popovac, who commanded the Muslim National Military Organization (Muslimanska narodna vojna organizacija, MNVO). The resolution of MNVO states that "Muslims are an integral part of Serbdom".{{cite book |author1=Enver Redžić |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TcqPAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA153 |title=Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War |author2=Robert Donia |date=13 December 2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-76736-5 |page=153}} World War I veteran Fehim Musakadić also joined the Chetniks.{{cite book|title=Prilozi|volume=20|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lqa3AAAAIAAJ|year=1984|publisher=Institut za istoriju|page=100}}

{{main|SFR Yugoslavia}}

File:MesaSelimovic Serbian Literature Great Men Stamps.jpg, Yugoslav writer declared himself as Serb Muslim.]]

Before the 1971 census, those of Slavic Muslim background in Yugoslavia could only legally declare themselves as Serb Muslims, Croat Muslims, or ethnically-undecided Muslims.{{cite book|author=Francine Friedman|title=The Bosnian Muslims: denial of a nation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SXRpAAAAMAAJ|year=1996|publisher=Westview Press|isbn=978-0-8133-2097-7|quote=Promoting that policy, in the 1948 census the Bosnian Muslims were permitted to declare themselves as Serb- Muslims, Croat- Muslims, or nationally "undetermined" Muslims, revealing the stance of Communist leaders that held that Muslims ...}} The overwhelming majority chose the option "undetermined".{{cite book|title=Religion and the Cold War: A Global Perspective|editor=Philip Emil Muehlenbeck|page=184|publisher=Vanderbilt University Press|year=2012|isbn=9780826518521|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ytEC2bOstFUC}} After 1971, Slavs of Muslim ancestry were recognized as an ethnic group in their own right.

Some prominent Muslims in Yugoslavia openly declared as Serbs, such as the writer Meša Selimović.{{sfn|Trbovich|2008|p=100}}

{{main|Yugoslav Wars}}

During early talks of the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ejup Ganić remarked that the Bosniaks "are Islamized Serbs", and should thus join the Serb side, at a time when the SDA shifted in favour of siding with the Serbs and continuing the struggle against the Croats.{{cite book|author1=Steven L. Burg|author2=Paul S. Shoup|title=Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention: Crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1990-93: Crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1990-93|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3v3qBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT341|date=4 March 2015|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-47101-1|page=341}} Political analyst Jochen Hippler noted in 1994 that: "Muslims are mostly ethnically Serb, a minority Croat, but this did not save them from being slaughtered by their fellow ethnic groups for being different.".{{cite book|author=Jochen Hippler|title=Pax Americana?: hegemony or decline|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FT1nAAAAMAAJ|date=1 April 1994|publisher=Pluto Press|isbn=978-0-7453-0695-7|page=164}}

Serb nationalists usually insisted that Bosnian Muslims were Serbs that had abandoned their faith.{{cite book|author1=Emran Qureshi|author2=Michael A. Sells|title=The New Crusades: Constructing the Muslim Enemy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S9oQIVgqkUEC&pg=PA323|date=5 November 2003|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-50156-9|pages=323–}} Serbian historiography emphasizes the Orthodox Serbian origin of the Bosniaks who are interpreted as relinquishing ties to the ethno-religious heritage after converting to Islam and later denying it by refusing to accept a Serbian identity.{{cite book|last=Bieber|first=Florian|title=Post-War Bosnia: Ethnicity, Inequality and Public Sector Governance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7R9_DAAAQBAJ&dq=Serbian+historiography+Bosniaks&pg=PA5|year=2006|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-230-50137-9|page=5}}{{cite book|last=Mekić|first=Sejad|title=A Muslim Reformist in Communist Yugoslavia: The Life and Thought of Husein Đozo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ECqTDAAAQBAJ&dq=Serbian+historiography+Bosniac&pg=PA17|year=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-230-50137-9|page=17}} According to the wartime and post-war Bosniak historiography, Bosnian Muslims within the bulk of Serbian nationalist historiography are presented as the descendants of the mentally ill, lazy, slaves, greedy landlords, prisoners, thieves, outcasts or as Serbs who, confused and defeated, chose to follow their enemy's religion. {{cite book|last=Alibašić|first=Ahmet|chapter=Bosnia and Herzegovina|editor1-last=Cesari|editor1-first=Jocelyne|title=The Oxford Handbook of European Islam|year=2014|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-102640-9|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NW7DBAAAQBAJ&dq=Serbian+historiography+Islamization&pg=PA431|page=431}} On the one hand, Bosnian Muslims emphasize that they have no ties with Serbs or Croats, while on the other hand, Serbs emphasize the common origin and role that the occupiers played in the quarrel between the Balkan nations. {{cite book|last=Alibašić|first=Ahmet|chapter=Bosnia and Herzegovina|editor1-last=Cesari|editor1-first=Jocelyne|title=The Oxford Handbook of European Islam|year=2014|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-102640-9|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NW7DBAAAQBAJ&dq=Serbian+historiography+Islamization&pg=PA431|page=431}}

In the 2022 census in Serbia, of those who declared as ethnic Serbs, 0.08% (4,238) declared Islam as their religion.{{sfn|Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia}}

• Avdo Karabegović (1878–1908), Bosnian writer {{cite book|author1=Stanoje Stanojević|author2=Jovan Jovanović|author3=Slobodan Jovanović |author4=Nikola Stojanović |title=Srpski narod u XIX veku|year=1935|volume=15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=doA6AQAAIAAJ|publisher=Geca Kon|page=90}}
• Osman Đikić (1879–1912), Bosnian writer
• Avdo Sumbul (1884–1915), journalist and pro-Serbian activist
• Muhamed Mehmedbašić (1886–1943), Bosnian revolutionary {{cite book|author=Alija S. Konjhodžić|title=Spomenica Bratstva: 1954-1974|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X1QBAAAAMAAJ|year=1974|page=381|quote=}}
• Mustafa Golubić (1889–1941), Chetnik and Soviet intelligence officer {{cite book|title=Vojska|volume=11|issue=549–568|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xHcpAQAAIAAJ|year=2002|publisher=Vojnoizdavački i novinski centar|page=175|quote=}}
• Hasan Rebac, writer
• Ismet Popovac (1902–1943), World War II Chetnik
• Fehim Musakadić (d. 1943), World War I Serbian soldier and World War II Chetnik
• Meša Selimović (1910–1982), Yugoslav writer
• Emir Kusturica (b. 1954), Serbian filmmaker
• Mustafa Mijajlović (b. 1972) Bosnian Serb sports commentator
• Sulejman Spaho (b. 1949) Serbian politician
• Celal Şengör b. 1955) Turkish scientist. According to himself, his paternal grandmother was of Serb origin.

• Sandžak
• Bosniaks of Serbia
• Islam in Serbia

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin|2}}

• {{cite book|last=Allworth|first=Edward|title=Muslim Communities Reemerge: Historical Perspectives on Nationality, Politics, and Opposition in the Former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f1qUHMl3JfgC&pg=PA125|year=1994|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=0-8223-1490-8}}
• {{cite thesis|last=Ceribašić-Begovac|first=Anaid|year=2017|title=Die Muslime im Sandschak Smederevo am Übergang vom 18. ins 19. Jahrhundert - Ein Vergleich zwischen der serbischen und bosnischen wissenschaftlichen Literatur|publisher=University of Graz|url=https://unipub.uni-graz.at/obvugrhs/content/titleinfo/1883278/full.pdf}}
• {{cite book |author= |date=2019 |title=Ethnicity/National Affiliation, Religion and Mother Tongue |url=https://popis.gov.ba/popis2013/doc/Knjiga2/K2_H_E.pdf |location=Sarajevo |publisher=Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina |ref={{harvid|Ethnicity/National Affiliation, Religion and Mother Tongue|2019}}}}
• {{cite web |author= |date=14 June 2023 |title=Population by ethnicity and religion, by region |url=https://data.stat.gov.rs//Home/Result/3104020305?languageCode=en-US |location=Belgrade |publisher=Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia |access-date=8 May 2025 |ref={{harvid|Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia}}}}
• {{Cite book|last=Вукићевић|first=Миленко M.|title=Знаменити Срби мухамеданци (Prominent Serb Muhamedans)|year=1901|location=Београд|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pvQDAAAAYAAJ}}
• {{Cite book|last=Вукићевић|first=Миленко M.|title=Знаменити Срби мусломани (Prominent Serb Muslims)|year=1906|location=Београд|publisher=Српска књижевна задруга|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1EULAAAAIAAJ}}
• {{Cite book|last=Вукићевић|first=Миленко M.|title=Знаменити Срби муслимани (Prominent Serb Muslims)|year=1998|location=Београд|publisher=ННК|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=22GwGwAACAAJ}}
• {{Cite journal|last=Раковић|first=Александар|title=Српски идентитет муслимана словенског порекла на постјугословенском простору у 21. веку (The Serb identity of Muslims of Slavic origin on post-Yugoslav space in the 21st century)|journal=Култура полиса: Часопис за неговање демократске политичке културе|year=2016|volume=13|issue=31|pages=171–183|url=http://kpolisa.com/KP31/KP31-II-1_Rakovic.pdf}}
• {{cite journal|author=Republički zavod za statistiku Srbije|year=2014|title=Etnomozaik|publisher=Republički zavod za statistiku Srbije|location=Belgrade|url=http://pod2.stat.gov.rs/ObjavljenePublikacije/Popis2011/Etnomozaik.pdf}}
• {{cite book|last=Trbovich|first=Ana S.|title=A Legal Geography of Yugoslavia's Disintegration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ojur7dVoxIcC&pg=PA100|year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=978-0-19-533343-5|pages=100–}}

{{refend}}

• {{cite book|author=Lazo M. Kostić|title=Nauka utvrduje narodnost B-X Muslimana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTRIAAAAMAAJ|year=1967}}

{{European Muslims}}

Category:Serb people

Category:Muslims by ethnicity