Volume 1, No 2; Year I; Autumn MMXX

The Magazine Illuminatio/Svjetionik/Almanar is taking its second step in a marathon on the path of new ideas about faith, morality, art, nation, society and state. We cannot hide either our nervousness or our curiosity from the rst step. The trepidation was the fear that we would not meet your expectations, and the curiosity was the desire to hear your objective criticism.

This article follows from the previously published paper and pertains to a distinctive phenomenological analysis of the structure/form and the production of the modality of miniature/illumination/pictorial representation, namely the productive-reflective orientation of homo islamicus with a separate analysis of his profanely-aestheticized discourse of action/arrangement/design.

In the first part of this study, published in the first issue of the magazine Illuminatio/Svjetionik/Almanar, the author briefly outlined the basic elements of the philosophy of politics characteristic of the history of modern nations in which he analysed the relations of the individual, the people, the nation and the state. The second part of this study focuses on the attitude of Bosniaks towards collective memory, which, according to the author, was brought to the threshold of amnesia under the influence of the long-term political strategy of their neighbours.

The focus of this article is a reflection on the nature of the human heart (al-qalb), human mind (al-‘aql) and human hand (al-yad). The heart is the place of emotion - love or hate; the mind is the place of thought - right or wrong; the hand is the tool of power – justice or injustice. So, the question may be asked, what is the tipping scale for the heart from love to hate; what makes the mind to think right or wrong; and what causes the hand to do justice or injustice?

The article considers two customs traditionally followed by Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina during Eid Al-Aḍḥā (‘Festival of Sacrifice’ or Kurban Bayram). These are, first, giving a small amount of money, so-called bayramlık, to children as a reward or gift in return for handing out Qurbani meat to neighbors, and, second, giving the meat to non-Muslims. The topic will be explored in the light of Marcel Mauss’s seminal essay on the gift, since Qurbani appears as a gift that identifies, marks and renews the social bonds not only of close relatives, but also of friends and neighbors. In this context too, we will meet what Jacques Derrida calls the aporia of the gift.

The author investigates from the perspective of a Western European country, in his case Germany, if and how religion(s) can be appreciated in a secular society. With historic reviews he demonstrates that we should revise our accustomed perceptions; how (in the “West”) Islam is perceived, how religions are perceived from outside, but also how the religious sometimes misrepresent the non-religious.

Most observers of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s political situation have focused only on the problems that the Dayton Peace Accord created for the normal functioning of this Southeastern European state, but a workable solution is yet to be proposed.

The author starts from the obvious statement that no one knows everything about everything and that we can have only partial knowledge of any limited study of reality, although, when it comes to religion, many still claim to know everything they need to know. Since people cannot know everything, dialogue is necessary, because through a conversation with another, a person learns what he cannot notice from his place and with his personal lenses of knowledge. 

Most observers of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s political situation have focused only on the problems that the Dayton Peace Accord created for the normal functioning of this Southeastern European state, but a workable solution is yet to be proposed.