Most people regard islam as a single religious monolith, but this is not even close to the truth. All the great religions of the world, including islam today, are comprised from a number of different denominations. Among these denominations of Islam is also Wahhabism, the denomination of the Sunni branch of islam. This extremely conservative religious movement defends doctrines that are in sharp contrast to modern Western values; nevertheless, for a variety of geopolitical reasons in the 20th and 21st century it has gained incredible power in the world's Muslim community, including in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this paper, we investigated Wahhabism, its history, its arrival and growth in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina by analyzing the primary and secondary sources of information on Wahhabism in this region and the important events associated with it. With the descriptive method we presented the history, philosophy and characteristics of Wahhabism and its special features. As part of this research, we have confirmed the presence of the doctrine of Wahhabism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, its links with foreign fighters and its slow spread among the population, especially among the poorer citizens. The task is important primarily because of the more detailed presentation of the islamic ideology of Wahhabism, which, despite its growth in the Muslim world, is still largely unknown in Slovenia, mainly due to its novelty in the Balkans where Wahhabism came only after the Balkan wars. Given the influence and extreme ideas of the Wahhabi movement, awareness of the details of such divisions is important not only because of the public safety of the citizens of the Republic of Slovenia, but also for a better understanding of the Muslim faith and the prevention of generalization that paints all muslims, regardless of their allegiance as potential extremists.
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