Historians as well as politicians have been trying to establish ethnic and national identity of Bosnian Muslims in a “Bosnian” atmosphere, with an emphasis to Bosnian state from medieval times. Scientific researches have refuted such thesis which attempt to affirm Bosnian Muslims as primary heirs to the identity of the medieval Bosnian state. It has been proven there is no spiritual continuity between Bosnian Muslims nowadays and members of the medieval Bosnian Church, as well as the lack of continuity between large Muslim landowners and the medieval Bosnian nobility. The ethnic identity of Bosnian Muslims is the consequence of Ottoman occupations, and it was from the ethnic identity of Bosnian Muslims that their collective Turkish worldview began to coexist within their community. The Turkish worldview residing within the Bosnian Muslims was further strengthened by their nature as serhatlije, better known as the guards of the Ottoman Empire who protected their own religion, their country, which they regarded as the bastion of Islam against the “infidels”, and their State. Given that the Ottoman Empire was an Islamic state by character, the identity of Bosnian Muslims was based on an Islamic determinant, which allowed them a socially privileged status over their Christian counterparts. During the 19th century, which is known as the century of modernization, Bosnian Muslims were one of the most backward communities residing on the European continent. In attempts of modernization, they saw a threat to their own Islamic identity and a threat to their socially privileged status within the society, which, consequently, forced them to remain a predominantly agrarian and uneducated community. The expulsion of the Ottoman Empire, which was better known as their "mother" and the emergence of the "infidel" Austro - Hungarian Empire in Bosnia and Herzegovina did not shake their fortified Turkish worldview nor did it significantly encourage them to modernize. Their collective worldview was non – national, they had much greater concerns than national identification, hence they rejected the Bosniak regime, the Croat and Serb nationalities and remained a religious community without national consciousness