SARAJEVO – The University of Sarajevo adopted a new plan to halt lectures during Friday prayer every week for an hour and a half to allow students perform prayer without interrupting their lessons.

The decision, issued earlier this week by Bosnia’s main university, halt activities for about an-hour-and-a-half each Friday during Muslim prayers, Agence France Presse reported.

The university has also decided not to hold classes during the hours of Catholic and Orthodox worship on Saturdays and Sundays.

However, Milorad Dodic, president of the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska condemned the move, saying “this is increasingly like an Islamic state”.

The university however said the decision was taken with the aim of respecting “human rights and denominational freedoms”.

Muslims pray five times a day, with each prayer made of a series of postures and movements, each set of which is called a rak‘ah.

The five prayer times are divided all through the day which starts with Fajr prayer at dawn.

Bosnia, a small country on the Balkan Peninsula, is home to three ethnic “constituent peoples”: mainly Muslim Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats.

Out of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s nearly 4 million population, some 40 percent are Muslims, 31 percent Orthodox Christians and 10 percent Catholics.