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Dubai Names Ex-Bosnian President as Islamic Personality of Year
DUBAI, Nov 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The UAE emirate of Dubai has named Alija Izetbegovic, former president of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Republic, as Islamic personality of the year 2001.
Izetbegovic, 67, will be awarded one million dirhams ($272,480) by Dubai's Crown Prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, at a ceremony to be held on December 5, UAE English daily newspaper the
Gulf News said, reported Agence France Presse (AFP).
The former president had been honored for his "distinguished contributions in the service of Islam in the strategic region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He led Muslims in that region to independence and freedom," said AFP quoting
Gulf News.
Izetbegovic, a noted writer on Islamic issues, founded the Democratic Labor Party in 1989 after the fall of communism. He was nominated for presidential elections in 1990 and became the first president of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
He has been a lifelong opponent of communism and was imprisoned for "pan-Islamic activity" in 1946-48 and 1983-88 by the totalitarian regime in Yugoslavia.
Izetbegovic was born in 1925 in Northern Bosnia and moved to Sarajevo at a young age. He completed his high school studies in 1943 after which he received a degree in Economics from Sarajevo University.
Ibrahim Bu Milha, the secretary general for the award, said that Izetbegovic fought diligently for the freedom of Muslims in the Balkans and was exposed to torture and imprisonment during the communist regime, reported
the UAE daily Al Ittihad.
In 1989, after the fall of communism, he formed the Democratic labor party, which had representatives who were both Muslim and non Muslim, to demonstrate that his aims were not just for Muslims but for the entire population of Bosnia Herzegovina, said Bu Milha.
In 1990, his political party, the Muslim Party of Democratic Action, ousted the communists in multiparty elections that year. He then became President of Bosnia.
During the holocaust of the Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the mid-1990s, Izetbegovic rallied his people from his sandbagged office and apartment.
He sought peace for his country in the face of demands from Serb and Croat political leaders, and signed the Dayton peace accord in November 1995. He was re-elected president of a three-member collective presidency in September 1996.
In June 1990, he announced his decision to step down as President of Bosnia.
One of the reasons he gave for leaving office was the international community's determination to dilute the Islamic essence of Bosnia. "The international community is pushing things forward in Bosnia... but it is doing it at the expense of the Muslim people. I feel it as an injustice," he said. "These are things that I cannot live with."
Izetbegovic is also a respected scholar and writer. He is best known for his book "Islam: Between East and West." This insight into the human condition analyzes the West's denial of Islam and the contributions made by Muslims in comparing the offerings of secular and Islamic civilizations.
The Islamic personality of the year award is part of the annual Dubai International Qur'an Awards, held every Ramadan in Dubai.
It is being held this year for the fifth consecutive year. Previous recipients of the Islamic personality of the year award have been: the late Sheikh Mohamad Mutwalee Al Sharawi (Egypt), late Sheikh Abi
al-Hassan Al Nadawi (India), UAE president Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and last year's recipient, prominent Islamic Scholar Dr. Youssef Al Qaradawi.
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