95–100% | |
90–95% | |
50–55% | |
30–35% | |
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 the 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 the 2022 census, there were 278,212 Muslims in Serbia (4.2% of the total population. The 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. The Sjenica Municipality has also a very large Muslim population (79%), followed by the 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 show that Muslims constitute a majority in those municipalities with 89%, 55% and 29% respectively. [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% |
** The 2011 census was boycotted by the Albanian minority
Adherents of Islam in Serbia are organized into two separate bodies: the Islamic Community in Serbia, a branch of 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, Reis-ul-ulema Mustafa Cerić published a fatwa against Adem Zilkić, the leader of the Islamic Community of Serbia, categorizing his actions as Masjid al-Dirar . [9]
The Islamic Community of Serbia (Islamska zajednica Srbije), with its 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 its 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 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 and geo-political region in the Balkans, located in the southwestern part of Serbia and the eastern part of Montenegro. The Serbo-Croatian term Sandžak derives from the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, a former Ottoman administrative district founded in 1865.
The Vilayet of Kosovo ; Косовски вилает (Macedonian) was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Peninsula which included the modern-day territory of Kosovo and the north-western part of the Republic of North Macedonia. The areas today comprising Sandžak (Raška) region of Serbia and Montenegro, although de jure under Ottoman control, were de facto under Austro-Hungarian occupation from 1878 until 1909, as provided under Article 25 of the Treaty of Berlin. Üsküb (Skopje) functioned as the capital of the province and the midway point between Istanbul and its European provinces. Üsküb's population of 32,000 made it the largest city in the province, followed by Prizren, also numbering at 30,000.
Sjenica is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern 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 a predominantly 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 of Serbia are a recognized national minority in Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the population of ethnic Bosniaks in Serbia is 153,801, constituting 2.3% of the total population, which makes them the third largest ethnic group in the country. The vast majority of them live in the southwestern part of the country that borders Montenegro and Kosovo, called Sandžak. Their cultural center is located in Novi Pazar.
Bosniaks are an ethnic minority in Montenegro, first introduced in the 2003 census. According to the last census from 2023, the total number of Bosniaks in Montenegro was 58,956 or 9.45% of the population. Bosniaks are the third largest ethnic group in the country, after Montenegrins and Serbs.
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 0.93% 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.
Ugao is a village located in the municipality of Sjenica, southwestern Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the village has a population of 545 inhabitants.
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 Novi Pazar was fought between November and December 1941 during World War II, between the Chetniks and Albanian forces under Axis command in the city of Novi Pazar, Sandžak, in the German-occupied Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Despite launching three assaults, the Chetniks failed to capture Novi Pazar.
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.
Sead Nasufović is a 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.
Abdullah Numan (Serbian Cyrillic: Абдулах Нуман; born 1950) is a Serbian-Australian academic and Islamic cleric currently serving as Mufti of Serbia.
The Islamic Community of Yugoslavia was an organisation of Muslims in socialist Yugoslavia established in 1947. The organisation was seated in Sarajevo, where the Reis-ul-ulema resided together with the Rijaset, the most senior body of the organisation.
Samir Tandir is a Serbian politician from the country's Bosniak community. 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 (SPP).