Opinion: Remembrance on the 25th Anniversary of the Genocide in Srebrenica

Twenty-five years have passed since the tragic event that beset the Muslims in Srebrenica which involved the horrible genocide on the Bosniaks. This article is meant to condemn this carefully planned and unprecedented massacre, the commission of which is still being denied by its perpetrators. They feel no remorse for the act they committed, while neither they nor those who masterminded the genocide have been punished for this atrocious act.

The genocide of Srebrenica was not perpetrated by only one or a few criminals – there were thousands of them. It was carefully planned and executed. The institutions of Republika Srpska (Serbian Republic) were founded on carnage, crime, and genocide, and these same institutions are still making the lives of Bosniak returnees and would-be-returnees to Srebrenica extremely difficult by imposing various obstacles and depriving them of fundamental human rights.

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We need to fully support the efforts of Srebrenica survivors and all others who condemn crime and ask for apprehension, trial, and punishment of the masterminds and perpetrators of this horrible genocide. We must sympathize with the Srebrenica survivors, and we must categorically demand freedom and justice.

The international community has been brought to a decided fact by this genocide, while the Bosniaks were told by the aggressor that “the time has come, after the Serb rebellion against the Turks in the 19th century, for us to take revenge on the Turks in these lands.” The Serbian military leader and war criminal (Ratko Mladic) had stated this publicly.  All those who have supported him, including those who masterminded this act, have also spoken so. Many of them continue to publicly use the same language even today with the slogan “Knife, barbed wire, Srebrenica fire!”

Those same ones have been confronting the Srebrenica survivors for wanting to locate the remains of their loved ones slaughtered and massacred 25 years ago, and inter them at the Potocari Cemetery (Potochary Cemetery), which is a sacred duty of theirs and their human responsibility. Those same ones have been systematically opposing the Srebrenica survivors by blocking any action that would ensure a safe return and a normal life of Srebrenica returnees.

These aggressors uprooted entire Muslim families and villages in Srebrenica. Some villages lost their entire population; hence, there is no one to return there. Mothers’ only sons were murdered, even though they were young children. Some families of 20 individuals were reduced down to one person, whereas some families have suffered a loss of more than 50 family members. Many of our sisters have lost their companions. Mothers have lost their providers. However, all of them are fighting and voicing their position for the whole world to hear. 

The mothers of Srebrenica are heroines admired by the whole freedom-loving world. Their voice has to be heard by us, their brothers and sisters, before it is heard by others. We have to stand by them, providing them unreserved support and aid. That is our duty and our mission. Whoever owns a bit of human dignity shall fight for their rights and take advantage of all situations to aid them in order to enable the whole area of Srebrenica to start living a life of dignity and freedom. The one who betrays these principles have betrayed Bosnia-Herzegovina and its future.

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُدَافِعُ عَنِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ خَوَّانٍ كَفُورٍ

Lo! Allah defendeth those who are true. Lo! Allah loveth not each treacherous ingrate (The Holy Qur’an, Al Hajj 22:38).

It is the right time today to raise a voice in support of the full rights of Srebrenica and its survivors and to warn all the opportunists.

وَإِمَّا تَخَافَنَّ مِن قَوْمٍ خِيَانَةً فَانبِذْ إِلَيْهِمْ عَلَى سَوَاءٍ إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يُحِبُّ الخَائِنِينَ

And if thou fearest treachery from any folk, then throw back to them (their treaty) fairly. Lo! Allah loveth not the treacherous (The Holy Qur’an, Al Anfal, 8:58).

It is time for Srebrenica to start breathing unimpeded, for mothers and fathers of Srebrenica to receive gratification for their sustained suffering and losses, for the application of justice, and, finally, for the Srebrenica’s victims to find peaceful rest at the Potocari Cemetery. This cemetery ought to become our symbol, a call, a message, and a warning until the Day of Judgment. We have to pay visits to it and reflect on our thoughts there, both on the day commemorating the suffering of Srebrenica, and on other occasions.

It is our responsibility and our duty to stand firm and fight to defend our rights and the rights of all those who have been deprived of them. Twenty-five years since the Golgotha of Srebrenica is too long of a time in which not much has been done. Therefore, we must be warned of many injustices faced by both Srebrenica survivors and the fallen victims. We ought not to keep silent. We are to fear no one but Allah. If we remain loyal to Him and to the principles of Islam and justice, we are then responsible for fighting for the rights of our brothers and sisters. 

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We must hereby call upon the entire Ummah to unite for a more prosperous future of both this generation and our posterity. 

God Almighty predestined and defined our lives, a fact that can best be exemplified in this verse:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اصْبِرُواْ وَصَابِرُواْ وَرَابِطُواْ وَاتَّقُواْ اللّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ

O ye who believe! Endure, outdo all others in endurance, be ready, and observe your duty to Allah, in order that ye may succeed (The Holy Qur’an, Al Imran, 3:200).

Considering what we know of the situation in Muslim communities, both in the United States and Bosnia, and due to the bitter experience Bosnian Muslims have suffered, we have no other choice but to move with a strong initiative following appropriate and well-coordinated actions to form a Muslim community which will serve Allah Almighty and not His enemies, and which will be strong in body and in spirit, and will be unified; such a community will be honored firstly by ourselves and then by others. 

It depends only on us (as Muslims) whether we will have a powerful united community based on the Qur’ân and Sunnah. As long as we don’t accomplish this goal, it will be in vain to accuse others for our mishaps. We must hold on to the faith and commands of Allah, they are like a rope that attaches us to heaven (Holy Qur’ân 3:103).

The nonexistence of the office of the Khalifah and a government under him leaves no Muslim minority paying a higher price than the Bosnian Muslims. Bosnian Muslims suffered tremendously after the fall of the Caliphate. Bosnia is an indicator to the Muslim World that it cannot even live (let alone progress) in this Ummah divided along national lines.

Today’s dynamic changes in the Islamic World, despite some clumsiness, un-readiness, and unnecessary emulation of others, announce a new and, we hope and pray to Allah for a positive turn of events and renaissance for Muslims.

We ask Allah to grant us the ability to change ourselves for the better and not to be of those who are prevented from His Mercy and forgiveness. Indeed He is the One who Hears, Sees and He is the One that Responds. 

بِسم الله الرًّحمَن الرًّحيم

 الهي بِاَخصّ صِفاتِك وَ بِعِزِّ جَلالِك و باَعظَمِ اَسمائِك وَ بِنُورِ اَنبيائِكَ وَ بِعِصمةِ اوليائِكَ وَ بِدِّماءِ شُهَدائِكَ وَ بِمُناجاتِ فُقَرائِكَ نَسئَلُكَ زيادَةً في العِلم و صِحَةً في الجِسم وَ بَرِكَةً في الرِّزقِ وَ طُولاً في العُمر وَ تُوبَةً قًبلَ الموُت و رّاحَةَ عِندَ الموُت وَ مَغفِرَةً بَعدَ الموُت وَ نَّجاةً مِنَ النّارِ ودُخوُلاً في الجَنَّةِ وَ عافيَةً في الدّينِ وَالدُنيا وَ الآخِرَة برَحمَتِكَ يا اَلرحَم اَلرّاحِمين

In The Name Of Allah, Most Gracious and Most Merciful,

O God Almighty! By the most exclusive of Your attributes and by the grandeur of Your majesty, by the Greatest of Your names and by the light You sent by Your prophets and by the piety of Your loving servants and by the bloods of Your martyrs and by longing calls of Your seekers, we beg Your favor of granting us ever increase in knowledge and health of body and mind, abundance in livelihood and long life and we ask Your pardon before our death and easy death and Your forgiveness after our death and salvage from hellfire and entry into paradise and all goodness and blessing in our greed in this earthly and in the ever lasting life hereafter by Your mercy! O, You Who Are Most Merciful.