08/04/2026
Dr Rusmir Mahmutćehajić was a Bosnian academic, author, and former statesman. Considered one of Bosnia’s leading intellectuals and public figures, he was the foremost advocate of the idea of a diverse Bosnia. His fields of academic expertise included philosophy of religion, philosophy of science, political theory, and literary theory and criticism, with a special focus on the impact of the ideologies of modernity on oral and modern literature. A scholar of the Muslim intellectual tradition and a contributor to contemporary Muslim thought and the liberal interpretation of Islam, Professor Mahmutćehajić served his country as Deputy Prime Minister and as Energy Minister through the process of independence and much of the war that followed (1991-95). He was one of the key actors responsible during those years for organising the successful defence of Sarajevo and of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a sovereign state. For the past 27 years, he had been President of International Forum Bosnia, a non-governmental organisation and think tank dedicated to the development of critical thought and a plural society in Bosnia. He was the author of more than 30 books in Bosnian, some 12 of which have been published in multiple languages, and author of several hundred academic articles and essays. His most recent books include The Horizons of the Praised: On Man, the Worlds, and God; The Genocidal Anti-Bosnian Ideology; and The Mystery of Hasan Aga’s Wife. He was a full member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and a member of the Brill editorial committee for the philosophy of religion and world religions.
