The Muslim National Organization was itself a successor of the conservative Bosniak "Movement for waqf and educational autonomy" (Pokret za vakufsko-mearifsku autonomiju) that goes back to 1887.
In election campaigns the JMO did mobilize on religious slogans rather than Bosniak nationality, calling failure of Muslims to vote for the party as a sin.
The party had considerable influence in Islamic religious institutions, and JMO came to dominate the political life in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He resigned in 1939 to protest the creation of the banovina of Croatia:[3] he died a few months later and was succeeded as party chairman by Džafer Kulenović.
[4] After the invasion of Yugoslavia by Axis powers, Ante Pavelić's quisling Croatian regime received support from several JMO leaders, among whom Džafer Kulenović who served as vice-president.