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Despite the severity and repetition of these campaigns, they failed. The Bogomils remained patient through the ordeal for 250 years, until the Ottoman Turks opened Serbia. The Bogomils then appealed to them for protection and liberation from their misery, but Timur’s campaign in Asian Turkey delayed the response to this appeal until 1463, when Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror took control of Bosnia and its people, the Bogomils, embraced Islam. Their circumstances, together with the religious tolerance for which this great sultan was known, are clear indications that they became Muslims without coercion.

During the Ottoman period, the province of Bosnia and Herzegovina was like an autonomous republic within the state, as were the Arab countries in that period of their history, in that its people took an active part in managing its affairs. The Bosnian Muslims were among the Ottoman state’s most loyal subjects and devoted servants. Many distinguished themselves in military and administrative arts, attained the highest ranks and offices, and twenty-four of them held the office of grand vizier, the prime minister, in the Ottoman state. Many became prominent in command of the army and navy. The sultans valued them so highly that they married some of them to their daughters. An indication of their esteem is the statement of Sultan Selim I when he learned of the death of the Bosnian grand vizier Sinan Pasha, commander of the Turkish campaign in Egypt in 1517: “We have broken a Sinan.”

In their loyalty to the Ottoman state and obedience to its authorities, the Bosnian Muslims recognized no limit at which they would stop except when it became clear to them that the state, for one reason or another, was abandoning the protection of their homeland. An example occurred in 1737. The governor of Bosnia learned from reliable sources that Austria intended to attack Bosnia with a great force. When the governor informed the grand vizier, the grand vizier believed that the aggression should not be resisted because Turkey was engaged in war with Russia and could not fight on another front. The notables of Bosnia therefore gathered at the governor’s invitation to discuss this grave matter. They unanimously condemned the grand vizier’s abandonment, even under compulsion, of their homeland’s rights, decided to disobey his order, declared a general mobilization and prepared to repel the aggression. When the Austrian army crossed Bosnia’s borders at several points, the Bosnians confronted it. Bloody battles took place, some of them involving Bosnian women, and victory was theirs. The sultan rewarded Bosnia’s leaders and the commanders of its defense with the highest ranks and decorations. One of them, Muhammad Bey Qabadi, received the title Ghazi, one of the most honored, highest and rarest titles in the Ottoman state.

The same heroism was repeated in 1878, when the Bosnians decided to reject the decision of the great powers