INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF ISLAM VIEWED FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN STANDARDS OF RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES AUTONOMY

Abstract

UDK 28:342.7

Available researches carried out by local authors concerning the issue of institutionalization of Islam in countries of European Union have, so far, offered elaborations of the background of the process, its development in individual countries and challenges it faced. The issue of whether it is and to what extent is the experi-ence of the institutionalized organization of Islam in Bosnia and Herzegovina applicable in countries of European Union. The su-bject of this article is revision of the process of institutionalization of Islam in countries of Western Europe in the light of present jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. Using the method of content analysis, the historical and the comparative method, direct involvement of state governments in organization and structure of Islamic institutions as related to the principles of religious autonomy are individually analyzed. We also analyzed the idea of establishing criteria for unanimous presentation of Islam on national level as a condition for receiving certain privi-leges offered by government with reference to Strasbourg juri-sprudence according to which state should be neutral organizer of expression of different religions and convictions in a society.