Inescapable Questions: Autobiographical Notes
By  Alija Izetbegovic
Former President of Bosnia Herzegovina
Translated by Saba Rissaluddin & Jasmina Izetbegovic
ISBN: 0-86037-367-3
Publisher: The Islamic Foundation, Leicester UK
Pages: 854, Paperback
Publication Year: 2002

An autobiography of humbling modesty, providing details of the former president’s personal strife and progressing onto the forming of the SDA and the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. The book also sheds light on the labyrinthine manipulations of the various signatories to the Dayton Agreement, not least in the return and non-return of refugees to their homes. Overall, a spellbinding read that will capture readers’ imaginations and respect from beginning to end.

Inescapable Questions asks the obvious question: why was the war in the Balkans allowed to happen. Was it a conspiracy; didn’t people know; why wasn’t more done to stop it; and is it true that only bad things happen to good people?

As the book concludes and Izetbegovic brings an end to his political life, his last act in public office was addressing a group of young school students: 'As I spoke at that day’s meeting, pictures of a world from more than 50 years ago followed one another in the mists of my memories…..For a moment there I returned to my youth, the early youth, when all nice illusions were gathered together. Then life came and, like a strong wind, blew them away, one by one. What we call happiness is sometimes the accordance between our life and circumstances, our biography and history, our personal aspirations and historical currents. If I look at things that way, I can say: I was born too early to be happy. But birth is one of the many things we do not get to choose. It is part of our destiny.'

 Alija Izetbegovic, the former Bosnian president who steered Bosnia through independence and the worst bloodshed in Europe since World War II, died on 19 October, 2003 aged 78.


Born on August 8, 1925 in Bosanski Samac, Izetbegovic and his family moved to Sarajevo in 1928. He graduated high school in 1943, and studied agriculture for three years. His bookish manner making him an unlikely warrior, Izetbegovic nonetheless demonstrated steely will,  long before the start of the Bosnian conflict.

He was sentenced twice for his anti-Communist political views and spent nearly nine years in jails in Communist Yugoslavia - the state created by Josip Broz Tito. Under the motto 'Brotherhood and Unity,'Tito and his immediate successors stamped on any expression of freedom. After serving three years in prison, he was released in 1949 and earned a law degree from Sarajevo university in 1956, later working as a legal adviser to city transport firms. He was imprisoned again from 1983 to 1988 for daring to defy the Communist dictatorship.

Abandoned by Western governments who merely offered platitudes, he courted Muslim nations during the Balkan wars, resulting in financial support for the fledgling Bosnian army in its fight against the Serbs and Croats. When the Serbs policy of 'ethnic cleansing' came to light, hundreds of Islamic fighters came to Bosnia from Arab and other Muslim countries to defend their fellow brothers and sisters.

 Inescapable Questions By  Alija Izetbegovic: Autobiographical Notes is a rare story. More than cherishing the book it is time to revere the life and times of a remarkable man.