At first there was resistance to this idea, including within the leading political party of Bosnian Muslims - the Party of Democratic Action - the idea still prevailed in 1993, when the new name was adopted at the Bosniak Congress attended by the Bosnian Muslim political and cultural representatives.

Zulfikarpašić was born on 23 December 1921 in Foča, a town along the Drina river in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina).

[7] Adil's half-brothers were Alija and Hilmo, both of whom moved to the Ottoman Empire after Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina and changed their surname to Aq Qoyunlu; Ibrahim, Hasan, Hivzo, Hamdija, while Sabrija was his full brother.

His half-sisters were Arfa, Fatima and Haša, and full sisters Zumruta, Hasiba, Hajrija, Hamijera, Fahra and Šefika.

While attending gymnasium in Foča he became a leftist and joined a certain group of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (SKOJ).

However, a local politician helped to abolish these punishments, so Zulfikarpašić was able to continue his education at the Commercial Academy in Sarajevo.

In 1942, during World War II, he was caught by the Ustaše (the Croatian pro-Nazi forces) in Sarajevo and was tortured by them and sentenced to death.

[12] After becoming disillusioned with Josip Broz Tito's government shortly after the end of the war, Zulfikarpašić fled into exile in Zurich, Switzerland.

[13] Zulfikarpašić, a self-identified Croat,[14] found allies in the exiled leaders of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), Juraj Krnjević especially, who was sympathetic towards Bosnian Muslims.

Writing in January 1956 to Indiana sociologist Dinko Tomašić, Zulfikarpašić blamed the Ustaše for the interruption of the development of Bosnian Muslims towards Croatdom, stating that Tomašić's statement that "the rise of national consciousness among Muslims Bosnia and Herzegovina developed [...] exclusively in the direction of Croatdom" was correct, but added that "on the account of Ustaše transgressions during the war, there were instances of distancing from Croatdom even among those layers that had already started identifying themselves and becoming conscious in that direction" and that "the process of national awakening in the direction of Croatdom experienced heavy blows in the course of the war and was slowed.

1990), the party also included a very influential secular nationalist grouping, led by Zulfikarpašić and Muhamed Filipović.