Dr. Mustafa Ceric is serving his second term as Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is considered as one of the most powerful scholarly voices in contemporary Islam. He is the co-recipient of the 2003 UNESCO Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize for Contribution to World Peace and recipient of the International Council of Christians and Jews award for exceptional contribution to interfaith understanding.

Ceric graduated from the famed Gazi Husrev Beg Madrassa in Sarajevo and received a scholarship to Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. After his schooling there, he returned to his native Bosnia-Herzegovina, where he became an Imam. In 1981, he accepted the position of Imam at the Islamic Cultural Center (ICC) of Greater Chicago in Northbrook, Illinois and settled in the United States for several years. He learned English and earned a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in Islamic Studies. When he finished his studies, he returned to his homeland, leaving the ICC and becoming a practicing Imam in a learning center in Zagreb in 1987. He officially became the Grand Mufti of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1999, although he has led the Islamic community in Bosnia since 1993, a fact that has sparked controversy in his re-election.

Dr. Ceric is a member of several local and international scientific organizations and societies, including the Interreligious Council of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Foundation of Srebrenica-Poto?ari Memorial and Cemetery, the C-100 Council of 100 Leaders of the World Economic Forum, the European Council for Fatwas and Research, World Conference of Religion & Peace, the Executive Committee of the European Council of Religious Leaders, the Board of Trustees of International Islamic University Islamabad, the Sharia'h Board of Bosnia Bank International, the Fiqh Academy in Mecca, Aal Albayt Foundation for Islamic Thought in Jordan, the World Council of Religions for Peace, International Commission for Peace Research, UNESCO and Executive Council of World Forum of Ulama. He has delivered numerous lectures and led several workshops on inter-religious and inter-faith issues at local and international conferences. His publications include: Roots of Synthetic Theology in Islam; A Choice Between War and Peace, and the much discussed European Muslim Declaration.

He is one of the signatories of  A Common Word Between Us and You, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding. He regularly addresses believers through the media and on Friday Prayers. Mufti Ceric is truly unique world leader and his perspectives on Islam in Europe and the Modern World are not only influential, but timely and much needed.