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A Legal and Administrative Analysis of Inalienable Muslim Endowments (Awqaf) in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The establishment of inalienable Muslim endowments (pl. awqaf; sing. waqf) in Bosnia and Herzegovina goes back to the days of the Ottoman occupation of the region in 1463. This article explains their establishment and development together with their institutions with reference to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries when some of the most famous awqaf emerged. The great period for awqaf came to an end with the Austria-Hungarian takeover in 1878. The author argues that since then the institution of waqf in Bosnia and Herzegovina was subject to injustice, hostility, and devastation from the various regimes that have ruled the country. He explains the deteriorating position of waqf property through the periods of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the unlawful confiscation and nationalisation of waqf property and the ultimate complete abolition of the institution of waqf under the communist and socialist regime. This situation lasted until the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 when the Council of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina established the Waqf Directorate. The author also evaluates the legal applications of the restitution claims made by religious communities for the property which was unlawfully confiscated through various legislative mechanisms during and after the communist regime. The ways to safeguard and protect waqf property will be examined as well.