INTERPRETATIONS OF THE QUR’AN REGARDING THE ISSUES OF KHILAFAT AND PANISLAMISM BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS

Abstract

UDK 327.39::28(497.6)”1918/1941” 28-256

Topics of the khilafat and Pan-Islamism were very much alive and popular in Muslim intellectual elite in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first half of the 20th century. Numerous works were written on these issues and many were translated from other languages with the aim of drawing the attention of general public with the purpose gaining their support for the concepts in matter. Of course, the views regarding these issues differed, but, nonetheless, the authors were quoting mostly same ayas of the Qur’an to which they gave their own interpretations. These issues reached the peak of popularity in 1924, when khilafat was abolished. What was achieved with this and what were the consequences thereof? How it was perceived in the Muslim world, especially amongst the Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, what was the response, what solutions, primarily those that relied upon the first source of Islam, the noble Qur’an, were offered in attempts to resolve the situation? These are the questions that we attempt to answer in the present article.