BOSNIAN-AMERICAN CULTURAL ASSOCIATION,INC.
1810 N. Pfingsten Road,
Northbrook, IL 60062
Tel. (847)272-0319
Fax : (847)272-0348

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful!

The Bosnian-American Cultural Association, Inc. (BACA) has a long and rich history in the Chicago Metropolitan area as a center for the Muslims from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Balkans, and other areas, who came mostly as immigrants to the USA. This is the most important and the most prominent organization of Bosnian Muslims, not only in the Chicago area, but in the entire USA. The principal BACA headquarters are located at 1810 N. Pfingsten Road, Northbrook, IL. BACA holds the sole beneficial ownership of that land, its structures and its facilities.
 

The first Muslim immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, known as BOSNIACS, or simply Bosnians, came to the USA, mostly to Chicago, in 1903 in search of greater economic opportunities and greater freedom. They were young, single and of limited education, but willing to accept the hardest jobs. The first newcomers were greeted by local boys with showers of stones and catcalls of “damned Turks,” because many of them wore their native hats, called “fezzes”. But being quick learners they adjusted their clothing and behavior very quickly to the new country. Already, on May 1, 1906, they founded the first Bosnian fraternal organization in the USA, under the name of Dzemijetul Hajrije of Illinois (The Benevolent Society), which was later registered by the Secretary of State on July 9, 1906. This is the oldest existing Muslim organization in the USA. Its original charter has been appropriately treasured in the BACA/ICC Museum. Its members organized chapters in other states and purchased cemetery lots. Their purpose was to provide mutual help to their members, especially to pay hospital bills, to make Muslim funeral arrangements, to organize celebrations of Muslim religious holidays and to help preserve their religious and national customs and traditions. Their meeting places were mostly Bosnian coffee houses which they frequented to talk and joke in Bosnian, to eat Bosnian ethnic dishes and to exchange job referrals with each other. They contributed to the growth of Chicago as construction crews working mostly on downtown buildings, railroads, roads, and in the mining and steel industries. They became renowned builders after they completed several difficult projects in the Chicago subway system. After World War II, the second wave of Bosnian immigrants arrived in the USA, mostly in Chicago. The old timers had some temporary or visiting Imams (religious ministers) to serve their needs, but with the arrival of new immigrants a need for a well qualified and permanent Imam became more urgent. They invited and sponsored Sheik Kamil Avdich, a well known Bosnian Muslim scholar who had earned the Alimya with Royal Decree from the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, but who refused to return to communist Yugoslavia.

 

Imam Kamil arrived in February 1954 and on May 3, 1954, he and other Bosnians founded a new organization, the “Muslim Religious and Cultural Home”, which was later registered on March 14, 1955, with Imam Kamil Avdich as its first president and Safet Sarich, who was from the first generation of Bosnians born and educated in the U.S., as its first secretary. Cadi Seid ef. Karic, a very prominent Bosnian, was Imam Kamil’s first assistant. They collected donations from Bosnians and on August 15, 1956 they purchased two buildings at 1800 N. Halsted, Chicago, IL., for $36,000. With the volunteer work of their enthusiastic members they remodeled a large hall in the larger building into the first mosque, which opened on February 10, 1957. This was the first Muslim institution in the Chicago area which served Bosnians and all other Muslims. It remained open for almost 20 years. On September 12, 1968, the name was changed to the Bosnian-American Cultural Association, abbreviated BACA, and Imam Kamil was again elected as its president. However, soon the building could no longer meet the needs of the growing BACA membership. On July 20, 1971, BACA purchased, for about $45,000, two-acres of vacant land at 1810 N. Pfingsten Road, Northbrook, IL. On December 2, 1972, the BACA Building Committee, decided to form a new corporation, the Islamic Cultural Center of Greater Chicago, Inc., abbreviated ICC. The ICC was incorporated on December 26, 1972. Imam Kamil was elected as its first president.
BACA has continued its activities both as a separate corporation and in partnership with its offspring, the ICC. To give assurances to the non-Bosnian Muslims, BACA entered into the TRUST (WAQF) AGREEMENT with the ICC, dated March 1, 1975, retaining the beneficial ownership and power to control the trust but granting the ICC the right to manage said trust property providing that it would be managed by a nine member Board of Directors, four to be elected by BACA, four to be elected by ICC and the ninth member to be selected from the Turkish community. The first phase of the ICC, consisting of educational, social and administrative sections, with a custodian’s apartment, was completed at the cost of about $650,000, and opening ceremonies were held on March 21, 1976. Shortly after the completion of the first phase, Imam Kamil resigned as the president of the ICC and was appointed by the ICC Board of Directors as Administrative Director and Imam of the ICC. On April 2, 1977, the new ICC By-laws, which incorporated the required portions of the Trust (WAQF) Agreement, were approved by the ICC members. The founder and the great leader Imam Kamil Avdich passed away on December 2, 1979. Imam Kamil departed from this temporary dwelling to a better abode in which Almighty God will richly reward him. He was missed very much by the BACA and ICC members. One of the requirements of the Trust Agreement was that an ICC Imam shall be proficient in the Arabic, Bosnian and English languages. After a search, Mustafa Ceric from Bosnia, a graduate from Al-Azhar University, was selected as the new Imam. He arrived in May 1981 from Bosnia and was appointed by the ICC Board as the full time ICC Imam. Dr. Mustafa Ceric received his Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from the University of Chicago in 1986. After very successfully serving BACA and ICC for over five years, he returned to Bosnia where he became a great religious leader of Bosnian Muslims during the 1992-1995 war and aggression on Bosnia and was elected as their spiritual head with the title of Reisu-l-ulema of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The second phase of the ICC was completed with a prayer hall, minaret and a lecture hall, at the cost of about $800,000. The opening was held on October 15, 1988. Both BACA and ICC, experienced some internal problems in the period from 1988 until 1991, but they overcame them and came out stronger and more united. The BACA and ICC Board of Directors have learned to cooperate with each other very closely as is required by the Trust (Waqf) Agreement.

 

Prior to the aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina, only several hundred Bosnians resided in the Chicago Metropolitan area and perhaps just as many in the rest of the USA. After the war and terrible aggression was unleashed on Bosnia and Herzegovina by its neighbors, BACA mobilized all available resources to help Bosnians in Bosnia to survive the aggression and genocide. BACA organized, collected and forwarded humanitarian aid to Bosnia and Herzegovina, mostly food, clothing, medicine and medical supplies in nineteen containers. Sixteen of these containers were 40 feet long and 8 feet in diameter.


 

The value of BACA humanitarian aid and cash sent to Bosnia and Herzegovina exceeded $2,000.000 for the period from 1992 through 1995. During the last decade of the 20-th century, the Chicago area experienced a great influx of Bosnian refugees, estimated to exceed 30,000 (with over 200,000 in the USA), who were mostly expelled by their Serbian and Croatian neighbors. As a result, both BACA and ICC, have received substantial increases in their respective memberships. Consequently, the existing building and parking lot areas have become inadequate to accommodate these increases. There is an apparent need to acquire one or more additional buildings for the religious, cultural and social needs of the increasing number of Bosnian refugees in the Chicago area. BACA shall always promote the interests of all Bosniacs and shall continue to help them to preserve their religion and traditions. BACA shall continue, inshallah, to work hard for the benefits of all Muslims and all Americans.
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