The mental image of Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina about Shiism

 Knowing the different attitudes towards Shiism can play an important role in propagating and introducing it. This article examines the meaning of Shiism in the lived experience of Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its purpose is to discover the meaning that Bosnian Muslims have in their lived experience of the Shiite religion. The research was conducted using phenomenological method. After conducting 20 phenomenological interviews, the obtained data were coded and categorized, resulting in 15 main themes in two semantic domains. In other words, Shiism has two meanings in the lived experience of Bosnian Muslims. Some consider it a misguided sect and some consider it one of the Islamic religions. In the semantic field of "Shiism as a heretical sect" seven main themes: "general negative attitude", "suspicions", "destructive political presence", "Wahhabi activity against Shiism", "inappropriate presence in Bosnia", "obstacles to propaganda", " "Conditional coexistence" has been extracted, which itself contains many sub-themes. Also, in the semantic field of "Shiism as an Islamic religion", eight other main themes have been discovered, which are: "Dimensions of Shiite superiority", "Difference; "Accepted matter", "suspicions", "Shiism of unknown religion", "slandered and attacked Shiism", "conditions for successful propaganda", "possibility of coexistence and rapprochement" and "factors affecting a positive view of Shiism".