94 On the birth of the "philosopher king" Begovic .. Plato's exception to the twentieth century

Imran Abdullah

Plato, the philosopher of the golden age of ancient Greek philosophy, dreamed of a model virtuous state ruled by philosophers, believing that philosophers for their wisdom would make the city a model in which the attributes of civilization and utopia would be realized.In his axiom known as the “Republic,” he considered the ideal ruler to be the philosopher.

Whether or not Plato was right, after more than 23 centuries, not far from the Athens Academy founded by Plato was born in Eastern Europe philosopher, thinker and politician leading an Islamic nation in Eastern Europe, and lived a life full of intellectual and political struggle, which included many years behind bars before He becomes the first president of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina after a bloody war ended in the 1990s.

The Bosnian people fought a massive humanitarian tragedy that eventually escaped and Serb genocide leaders were condemned. Bosnia recovered after the war and received support for reconstruction. Although the Bosnians did not forget their genocide, the efforts of Dido, the grandfather in the Bosnian language as his people call him, succeeded in putting an end to the long suffering.

Contrary to the image of the leader, Izetbegovic presented an innovative thought-provoking project of Islamic thought in a regional circumstance that included his country's conquest of communist occupation and the prolonged suffering of his people from the scourge of war.

In the spirit of the European Muslim writer, artist and philosopher, he wrote his most important book, Islam between East and West, in his imprisonment attempting to overcome the clash of civilizations to see a human being guided by the revelation of heaven.

The late Egyptian intellectual Abdul Wahab al-Missiri described the late President Begovic as "the only hard-working mujahideen in the world now." Al-Messiri added that Izetbegovic was a thinker and head of state who "analyzes Western civilization and demonstrates the nihilistic material cognitive model inherent in its science and its dominant model, and then confronts it and resists its attempt to exterminate its people."

At the same time, he used to benefit from the jurisprudence of Western human rights defenders.

Philosopher president and open society
According to Plato, the philosopher king is a ruler who enjoys a love of wisdom, intelligence, and simple living. His library included the largest collection of scientific, historical and philosophical books in 15th century Europe.

But despite these models of philosophical rulers, 20th-century European philosopher Karl Popper blamed Plato for the rise of totalitarianism in the 20th century, where the theory of philosophers' kings led Plato to fascist dreams such as "social engineering" and "idealism" and directly led, according to Popper, to models such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin through the philosophy of Hegel and Marx.

Popper calls the trio of philosophers Plato, Hegel and Marx the "enemies of the open society" and holds them responsible for the suppression of dissenting ideas and the spread of medieval dictatorships until the emergence of Hitler and Stalin.

He argues that a democratic society should not be governed by a definite idealistic definition of "Platonism", but must rely on steps based on trial and error, and open to the ideas of others, excluding any preconceived notions about the future.

In this context, the late Bosnian President Izetbegovic appears to be the exception of the twentieth century. Before he retires from political life and resigns from official positions, he writes in his memoirs: "I am a president elected by the people."

Izetbegovic was born in Shabat, Yugoslavia in 1925 and clashed early with the authorities as a result of his anti-communist Islamist intellectual interests.In his youth, he joined the Muslim Youth Organization, founded in Sarajevo, and sentenced in 1946 to three years in prison.

After his release from prison, he continued to study law and continued to form himself by reading and publishing articles under a pseudonym. He became famous in Yugoslavia when he wrote the "Islamic Manifesto" for which he was brought to trial in Sarajevo in 1983 with 12 intellectuals on charges of "fundamentalism" and sentenced to 14 years in prison. He was finally released at the end of 1988, to become a lawyer, intellectual and political activist.

Izetbegovic rejected the accusation of fundamentalism, saying the charge was a cover for ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Bosnian Muslim people.

After a career as a jurist, Izetbegovic founded the Democratic Action Party in 1990, and as a free voice for his Bosnian Muslim people, called for the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina and set an example of the coexistence of the various ethnicities in Yugoslavia.

In 1990, his party won 86 seats in the 240-seat parliament, leading the Bosnian people's struggle to defend their country against Serbian aggression that began with Bosnia-Herzegovina's independence from Yugoslavia in 1992 and continued until the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement on November 1, 1995.

Begovic wrote many books of an intellectual and political nature based on his vision and understanding of the universality of the message of Islam and teachings, and called in his theses and theories of tolerance and coexistence between different religions and races.

His most prominent works include: The Islamic Manifesto, The Obstacles of the Islamic Revival, and Islam between East and West. His work on authorship culminated in the end of 1999 with the publication of his memoirs, "My Escape to Freedom," in which he recorded his remarks in prison during 1983-1988.

East and West
In his introduction to the translation of the most famous book "Islam between East and West," the Egyptian philosopher Abdel Wahab al-Missiri described the writings of the Bosnian thinker as an unusual familiarity with Western philosophies. A true philosopher who stands on a firm philosophical ground and overlooks the other and understands the essence of the cognitive model that dominates it. "

The Messiri described Begovich as living under the shadow of Marxism and socialism. There is, therefore, one vision behind all these conflicting systems.

"My mind always thinks, but my heart is reassured by faith," Begovic said in his book My Escape to Freedom.

In 2003, the philosopher president and the leader of the Bosnian nation died of heart disease, buried in a humble grave of war martyrs and genocide victims. "The battle for the unification of Bosnia and the consolidation of democracy is progressing step by step," he said.