In accordance with the guidelines by Brill, I have adopted a simplified system for transcribing words in Arabic and Bosnian. In general, I have limited the use of diacritics to bibliographic references, quotations, and colloquialisms. Pluralization of such words usually follows English standards rather than those of the original languages, for example, “fatwas” rather than “fatawa,” unless noted otherwise.
I have done my best to use words in Arabic and Bosnian only to the extent necessary. When such words appear for the first time, they are italicized to draw the reader’s attention. I also provide a translation in brackets, unless their meaning is widely known in English, or they are cognate words whose meaning can be easily discerned by English readers. For the sake of privacy, I have changed the names of informants except for those who wanted to be named.