Born in 1952 in Veliko Cajno (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mustafa Ceric studied at the madrassa of Sarajevo and at El-Azhar, in Cairo. He became the Grand Imam of Zagreb, Croatia, in 1987 after living in the United States. His mosque then became an important intellectual and spiritual centre for the Moslems of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Grand Mufti of Bosnia-Herzegovina since 1993, he is a member of the European Council of Religious Leaders, which was established in 2002 and which is an affiliate of the World Conference of Religions for Peace.

He is Laureate together with Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, of the 2003 UNESCO Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize by an international jury.