90–100% | |
70–90% | |
50–70% | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
30–40% | North Macedonia |
10–20% | |
5–10% | |
4–5% | |
2–4% | |
1–2% | |
< 1% |
Islam by country |
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Islamportal |
Serbia is a Christian majority country, with Islam being a minority faith representing around 4.2% of the total population (excluding the disputed region of Kosovo, in which Islam is the predominant faith) as per 2022 census. [2] Islam spread to Serbia during the three centuries of Ottoman rule. The Muslims in Serbia are mostly ethnic Bosniaks, Albanians and significant part of Muslim Roma as well as members of the smaller groups, like ethnic Muslims, Gorani and Serbs (Čitaci). [3]
According to 2022 census, there were 278,212 Muslims in Serbia (4.2% of total population. Largest concentration of Muslims in Serbia could be found in the municipalities of Novi Pazar, Tutin, Sjenica and Prijepolje in the Sandžak region, and in the municipalities of Preševo and Bujanovac in the Preševo Valley.
census 1921 [4] | census 1991 | census 2002 | census 2011 | census 2022 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
Muslims | 97,672 | 2.23 | 224,120 | 2.89 | 239,658 | 3.20 | 222,828 | 3.10 | 278,212 | 4.20 |
The municipality of Novi Pazar is home to Serbia's largest Muslim population, with 82,710 Muslims out of 100,410 inhabitants (82% of its population). The municipality of Tutin has the highest share of Muslims in Serbia, with around 94% of its population being Muslim. Sjenica Municipality has also a very large Muslim population (79%), followed by Prijepolje Municipality (45%). Most Albanians, who belong to the Islamic faith, living in Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa boycotted the 2011 census, but statistics from the 2002 Census shows that Muslims constitute a majority in those municipalities with 89% and 55%, respectively and in Medveđa they numbered around 29% of the population. [5]
Population Census 2011 | Population Census 2022 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Municipality | Total | Muslims [6] | % | Total | Muslims [7] | % |
Novi Pazar | 100,410 | 82,710 | 82.4% | 106,720 | 88,493 | 82.9% |
Preševo | 3,080 | 593 ** | 19.3% | 33,449 | 31,505 | 94,2% |
Tutin | 31,155 | 29,220 | 93.8% | 33,053 | 30,909 | 93.5% |
Bujanovac | 18,067 | 4,137 ** | 22.9% | 41,068 | 28,254 | 68.8% |
City of Belgrade | 1,659,440 | 31,914 | 1.9% | 1,681,405 | 28,210 | 1.7% |
Sjenica | 26,392 | 20,906 | 79.2% | 24,083 | 18,860 | 78.3% |
Prijepolje | 37,059 | 16,562 | 44.7% | 32,214 | 15,066 | 46.8% |
Priboj | 27,133 | 5,793 | 21.4% | 23,514 | 5,119 | 21.8% |
Novi Sad | 307,760 | 4,601 | 1.5% | 368,967 | 4,870 | 1.3% |
Požarevac | 75,334 | 2,817 | 3.7% | 68,648 | 3,245 | 4.7% |
Subotica | 141,554 | 2,756 | 1.9% | 123,952 | 3,238 | 2.6% |
City of Niš | 260,237 | 2,486 | 1.0% | 249,501 | 2,224 | 0.9% |
Smederevo | 108,209 | 1,670 | 1.5% | 97,930 | 1,773 | 1.8% |
Zrenjanin | 123,362 | 1,391 | 1.1% | 105,722 | 1,346 | 1.3% |
Beočin | 15,726 | 1,374 | 8.7% | 13,875 | 1,156 | 8.3% |
Nova Varoš | 16,638 | 1,384 | 8.3% | 13,507 | 1,069 | 7.9% |
Bor | 48,615 | 1,338 | 2.8% | 40,845 | 1,052 | 2.6% |
Medveđa | 7,438 | 581 ** | 7.8% | 6,360 | 932 | 14,7% |
Pančevo | 123,414 | 769 | 0.6% | 111,454 | 777 | 0.7% |
Kragujevac | 179,417 | 665 | 0.4% | 171,186 | 710 | 0.4% |
Šabac | 115,884 | 760 | 0.7% | 105,432 | 669 | 0.6% |
Loznica | 79,327 | 724 | 0.9% | 72,062 | 630 | 0.9% |
Kraljevo | 125,488 | 532 | 0.4% | 110,196 | 479 | 0.4% |
Prokuplje | 44,419 | 299 | 0.7% | 38,054 | 412 | 1.1% |
Mali Zvornik | 12,482 | 472 | 3.8% | 11,290 | 362 | 2.9% |
Mali Iđoš | 12,031 | 232 | 1.9% | 9,983 | 361 | 3.6% |
Vršac | 52,026 | 253 | 0.5% | 45,462 | 334 | 0.7% |
Bečej | 37,351 | 206 | 0.6% | 30,681 | 314 | 1.0% |
Sremska Mitrovica | 79,940 | 240 | 0.3% | 72,580 | 291 | 0.4% |
Kruševac | 128,752 | 243 | 0.2% | 111,582 | 256 | 0.2% |
Krupanj | 17,295 | 229 | 1.3% | 17,295 | 229 | 1.3% |
Bač | 14,405 | 198 | 1.4% | 11,431 | 138 | 1.2% |
Sombor | 85,903 | 193 | 0.2% | 70,818 | 137 | 0.2% |
Serbia (total) | 7,186,862 | 222,828 | 3.1% | 6,647,003 | 278,212 | 4.19% |
** Census 2011 boycotted by Albanian minority
Adherents of Islam in Serbia are organized into two separate bodies: the Islamic Community in Serbia subordinate to the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Islamic Community of Serbia founded in 2007 which traces its origins to the Principality of Serbia. [8] In 2012, the reis-ul-ulema Mustafa Cerić of Bosnia published a fatwa against Adem Zilkić, leader of the Islamic Community of Serbia, categorizing his actions as Masjid al-Dirar . [9]
The Islamic Community of Serbia (Islamska zajednica Srbije), with seat in Belgrade, is administered by reis-ul-ulema Sead Nasufović. [10] It is divided into:
The Islamic Community in Serbia (Islamska zajednica u Srbiji), with seat in Novi Pazar, is administered by mufti Mevlud Dudić, [11] which include:
Novi Pazar is a city located in the Raška District of southwestern Serbia. As of the 2022 census, the urban area has 71,462 inhabitants, while the city administrative area has 106,720 inhabitants. The city is the cultural center of the Bosniaks in Serbia and the region of Sandžak. A multicultural area of Muslims and Orthodox Christians, many monuments of both religions, like the Altun-Alem Mosque and the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, are located in the region which has a total of 30 protected monuments of culture.
Sandžak is a historical geo-political region located in the southwestern part of Serbia and the eastern part of Montenegro. The name Sandžak derives from the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, a former Ottoman administrative district founded in 1865.
Central Serbia, also referred to as Serbia proper, is the region of Serbia lying outside the autonomous province of Vojvodina to the north and the autonomous province of Kosovo and Metohija to the south. Central Serbia is a term of convenience, not an administrative division of Serbia as such, and does not have any form of separate administration.
Sjenica is a town and municipality located in the southwestern part of Serbia, on the vast Sjenica-Pešter plateau and geographically located in the central part of Sandžak. The population of the municipality, according to 2022 census, is 24,083, while the town has a population of 12,989.
Serbia has been traditionally a Christian country since the Christianization of Serbs by Clement of Ohrid and Saint Naum in the 9th century. The dominant confession is Eastern Orthodoxy in the fold of Serbian Orthodox Church.
Bosniaks are an ethnic minority in Montenegro, first introduced in the 2003 census. According to the last census from 2011, the total number of Bosniaks in Montenegro was 53,605 or 8.6% of the population. Bosniaks are the third largest ethnic group in the country, after Montenegrins and Serbs.
The Albanian Coalition of Preševo Valley is a coalition of groups representing the Albanian inhabitants of the Preševo Valley in South Serbia.
Albanians in Serbia are a recognized national minority in Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the population of ethnic Albanians in Serbia is 61,687, constituting 0.9% of the total population. The vast majority of them live in the southern part of the country that borders Kosovo and North Macedonia, called the Preševo Valley. Their cultural center is located in Preševo.
Muftiship of Novi Sad is one of the four muftiships of the Islamic Community in Serbia. Muftiship is including territory of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and its seat is in Novi Sad. Administrator of the muftiship is mufti Fadil Murati.
The Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a religious organisation of Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is also recognised as the highest representative body of Muslims in the region, especially in Serbia (Sandžak), Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Hungary and Bosniak diaspora.
The Islamic Religious Community of North Macedonia or IRC is a religious organisation of Muslims in the Republic of North Macedonia. The headquarter of the community is in Skopje and the current leader, titled Reis-ul-ulema, is Shaqir Fetahu.
The Sandžak Muslim militia was established in Sandžak and eastern Herzegovina in Axis occupied Yugoslavia between April or June and August 1941 during World War II. It was under control of the Independent State of Croatia until September 1941, when Italian forces gradually put it under their command and established additional units not only in Sandžak, but in eastern Herzegovina as well. After the capitulation of Italy in September 1943 it was put under German control, while some of its units were merged with three battalions of Albanian collaborationist troops to establish the "SS Polizei-Selbstschutz-Regiment Sandschak" under command of the senior Waffen SS officer Karl von Krempler.
The Battle of Sjenica took place between attacking forces of Yugoslav Partisans on one side and defending forces of the Sandžak Muslim militia and town's militsiya in Sjenica, on the territory of the Italian governorate of Montenegro.
Riyasat is a main executive body of the Islamic communities in the Balkan region. The head of the riyasat is Reis-ul-ulema.
Sead Nasufović is an Bosniak Islamic cleric and since July 2016 the new Grand Mufti of Serbia.
Muhamed Hamdi Jusufspahić is a Serbian Islamic cleric and diplomat serving as the Ambassador of Serbia to Saudi Arabia since 2018. Previously he was the Mufti of Serbia, Mufti of Belgrade and the Deputy Grand Mufti of Serbia.
Islamic Community of Yugoslavia was an organisation of Muslims in the socialist Yugoslavia established in 1947. The organisation was seated in Sarajevo, where reis-ul-ulema resided together with the Rijaset, the most senior body of the organisation.
Emir Elfić is a Serbian Bosniak politician and diplomat. He served in the National Assembly of Serbia from 2012 to 2014 and has held high political office at the city level in Novi Pazar. From 2016 to 2022, Elfić served as Serbia's ambassador to Lebanon.
Samir Tandir is a Serbian Bosniak politician. He was a leading figure in Muamer Zukorlić's political movement for several years and served in the National Assembly of Serbia from 2020 to 2022 as a member of the Justice and Reconciliation Party.