Nedzad Grabus elected reis-ul-ulema of Islamic Community

The electoral body of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina elected Nedzad Grabus as its new reis-ul-ulema on October 10. The post is the head of a community that also includes Muslims in Sandzak. The session was held in the Gazi Husrev-beg Library in Sarajevo, and the vote was secret. Grabus received 230 votes, Mensur Malkic 128 and Salem Dedovic 28.

The change follows two terms of Husein Kavazovic, who was first elected in 2012.

Who elects the reis-ul-ulema?

The electoral body is made up of members of the Community’s Assembly, members of the Riyasat, muftis, presidents of the mesihats, deans and directors of Islamic institutions, chief imams and presidents of the executive boards of the medzlises. All of them voted in secret, and the result was announced after the count: of 386 votes cast for the three candidates, Grabus received 230.

The president of the Assembly of the Islamic Community presents the newly elected reis-ul-ulema with the mensura on November 15, at a special ceremony in the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque in Sarajevo. Grabus will also take his oath then. The mensura is a ceremonial document confirming that the person named in it is the lawfully elected reis-ul-ulema, authorized under Sharia law to grant similar authority to subordinate religious officials.

Who is Nedzad Grabus?

Grabus was born in 1968. He finished the Gazi Husrev-beg Madrasa in 1987 and earned his degree at the Faculty of Islamic Studies in Sarajevo in 1994, a master’s in 2001 and a doctorate in 2008. He worked at the same faculty from 1996 to 2006 and was appointed full professor on April 28, 2021. He has also taught at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Ljubljana.

From 2006 to 2021 he was the mufti of Ljubljana and president of the Mesihat of the Islamic Community in Slovenia, and since September 15, 2021 he has been the mufti of Sarajevo. From 2008 to 2020 he led the construction of the Muslim Cultural Center in Ljubljana; the mosque opened on February 7, 2020. He speaks Arabic, English and Slovenian.

What did he say in his first address?

After the vote, Grabus addressed those present and first thanked Kavazovic and Assembly president Edhem Bicakcic. Of the outgoing reis-ul-ulema, he said:

“We all thank him in particular for his dignified, courageous and resolute leadership of the Islamic Community over two terms.”

He described the result as proof of the community’s maturity and addressed believers in several countries:

“Today the Islamic Community won, today Muslims won in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sandzak, Croatia, Slovenia and the entire diaspora, because they showed that as responsible people we can get through even a very demanding and difficult process of electing the reis-ul-ulema of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

He spoke at length about the handover of leadership. Grabus said: “We have not had many chances in our lives to carry out this peaceful transition of administration in the Islamic Community. The first time was in 2012, when our reis-ul-ulema was elected, Hadji Husein efendi Kavazovic. In this year of 2026, God willing, we will repeat that process.”

He closed his address with a message to Muslims and to all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina:

“Dear Muslim women and men in Bosnia and Herzegovina, dear citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, dear fellow citizens all, be assured that the Islamic Community will always stand for everything that is good and will stop the fighters against everything that is weak for us or for the whole society.”

Grabus named Sandzak explicitly among the regions whose Muslims, as he put it, won that day. His formal inauguration follows on November 15 in Sarajevo.