1x1 - Bosnia

September 3, 2017

Jan Leyers experiences how liberal Bosnian Islam is. In Sarajevo he is shaved and massaged by a veiled barbershop owner. In the same city he meets two sisters, both successful fashion designers. They are the epitome of the diversity of Bosnian Islam. One wears a veil, the other does not. They make a passionate plea to be embraced by the rest of Europe as European Muslims. When Bosnia declared its independence in 1992, a bloody civil war broke out. In a genocide in Srebrenica more than 8,000 Muslim men lost their lives. Leyers is introduced to Ahmed, a young imam, whose father is one of the victims. He and his family recently returned there. How does he deal with the past and how does he see the future? Mr Hrustanović lost his father, and some family in the genocide. The civil war sparked a religious revival among Bosnian Muslims. Leyers meets Damir, who works at IT company and a member of the mystical Sufi brotherhood.. He goes with him to the weekly ziqr, an impressive trance ritual.