Abstract
When Riada Asimović Akyol recently wrote in the Atlantic that 'the istory and practice of Bosnian Islam yields a number of noteworthy lessons for those seeking to cultivate a liberal Islam in Europe', she identified such a liberal version of Islam with the Bosniak's acceptance of the modern state during Austro-Hungarian rule, in the administrative centralisation of its institutions, in the prominence of Islamic modernism in Bosnia and in history of secularisation - in short, the Bosniak's adaptability to modernity and secular contexts is a model to be imitated. This paper aims to question the idea of a 'progress towards a liberal Islam' as being too straightforward by providing historical, political and also intellectual context to the practice of Islam in Bosnia and, above all, by analysing the present logic of looking for a particular Islamic identity.
I will propose a reflection on what the 'Bosnian model' might mean in three steps - defining the Bosnian model; placing it in historical context; and reconstructing the context of t he contemporary Islamic community's efforts to define the Bosnian Islamic tradition and assessing its results.