Albania

(This article is adopted from a paper written by Albanian scholar Dr. Ismail Bardhi)

Albanians contributed immensely to Islamic scholarship in literature, the arts, poetry, and thought. Albania has a rich history of learning. Some of the most famous Albanian poets were influenced by Arabic stories and folklore and in many ways intellectually Islamized their Albanian civilization.

Although the Albanians converted to Islam, ethnic hatred and religious wars were a rarity. Rather conflicts were based on economic reasons. Christian and Muslim peasants united to challenge the rich aristocracy. According to Noel Malcom, the concept of ethnic hatred is a modern phenomenon, a result of Serbian nationalism.

Serbia invaded and occupied Albania in the early 1900's to "save" and "liberate" the Christian Slavic population from the Muslim Albanians. The colonization was in fact very similar to the way that western European nations colonized Africa or India. In Albania's case the Serbs invaded Albania to "liberate" Serbs in Albania, claiming that they had been oppressed during the centuries of Ottoman rule. They "liberated" the Albanian Serbs by giving them preferential treatment and special privileges while denying the same treatment to other Albanians (mainly Muslims). Over time the bond that had existed between native Christians and Muslims eroded away and eventually created a polarized, often hostile environment. In a sense this is when real "ethnic hatred" started; a harmful by product of discriminatory Serbian policies.

As Muslims globally lost power to the European Christians, the latter started to carve up Islamic territories. At the London Conference in 1912 Albania was divided among Greece, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro. They also created a new state, Kosovo, composed primarily of Albanians.

This conference had numerous ramifications. First, Albania, already shrunk in size by remapping, was split into two states-Albania and Kosovo.

Second, Muslims went from living in a primarily homogenous Muslim Albanian state to living as minorities in Christian countries. This divide-and-rule policy also enabled non Muslim countries to control and manipulate the smaller and vulnerable Muslim minority. In subsequent years, whenever Albanians have tried to come together they have failed largely because of their inability to unite and get together on issues.

Some of the ramifications of that conference are still felt today. When part of Albania was given to Greece, the Greek government tried (and still is trying) to assimilate the Albanians through indoctrination. And indoctrination they did many Albanians through false propaganda, misinformation and westernization. Many churches attempted to convert these Albanians to Christianity.

The Greek government used many of these Albanians for its own agenda. It has armed and trained many of these Albanians in terrorism and sabotage and sent them on special assignments with mission to destroy and debilitate Albania, and it infrastructure.

Today Albania is surrounded by Italy, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. About 3.5 million Albanians live in the Republic of Albania. Another 2 million live in Kosovo and an additional 700,000 in Macedonia. Adding up the number of people scattered in the territories, there are an estimated 6.5 million ethnic Albanians. The percentage of Muslims in Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia is around 70%, 95%, and 99% respectively.

One of the most startling issues in the Albanian drama of the present days has been its close association with atheism. Atheism was the official state policy since the Communist party's control in 1946. As such, atheism coupled with Albania's isolation from fellow Muslim countries has left the masses in an intellectual and religious vacuum; Islamic institutions symbolized by madrasas and Mosques have been systematically destroyed; scholars have been harassed, tortured and killed, crippling the educational system and leaving only very basic secular education as an alternative.

Although Albania has a government and culture that has largely abandoned religion, it was not the only reason why people have stayed away from their faith. Muslims who claimed to be educated in deen may have helped in repelling people away from Islam as well.

During the early 1990's when the current of democracy swept through Eastern Europe, closed government systems like that of Albania's slowly began to open up. Although by no means a hallmark of a pluralistic society, the process enabled some to revive Islam and its activities too. Many Muslims from other countries also came for "Dawa work" and the preaching of Islam.

Never in the history of Albania have Muslims failed so drastically to spread and attract people to Islam. One key reason is that visiting Muslims lacked cultural, social, political, and sociological knowledge of Albanian Muslims and the way they practiced and viewed Islam. Moreover, many Muslim Albanians still retained their Ottoman habits living in a traditionally harmonious manner with both Muslims and non-Muslims alike that sometimes beguiled their visiting brethren.

This ignorance spread from arts and architecture to madhabs/fiqh issues and even included a gross misunderstanding of interpersonal relations. For example, some Islamic institutions built by these brothers were completely at odds with distinct Balkan architecture of the land. These institutions were perceived as ultimately uninviting places built by "foreign" Muslim organizations and thus could not absorb the Albanian Muslims. Many of these Muslims were also perceived as rude, harsh, judgmental and rather closed minded, often emphasizing doctrine over character. This behavior contrasted sharply with the friendly Ottoman Turkish hospitality that most Albanians had been used to.

Eventually, Dawa was seen as an attempt to proselytize people to a skewed and strange version of Islam. Many of the immigrants emphasized their "correct understanding" of Islam discouraging disagreement and discussion and rarely if ever acknowledged that other indigenous views could also be acceptable. Piety to them was submission and acceptance to their demands while people who questioned or disagreed with these Muslims were guilty of "un-Islamic" behavior. The result was a clash of civilizations not a synchronization of cultures.

The Albanian population as a whole has not tasted the flavor of religion for decades. This is primarily because there are no primary, secondary or higher Islamic educational institutions. And the classic Islamic literature simply does not exist. Most of this was destroyed or heavily suppressed during the Albanian Communist era. The people who have been educated have been indoctrinated along the atheist/secularistic lines. And since most of these people had a fairly good education, they have been able to rise to the top of the society. Since they rule the masses, Albanians have seen a moral erosion of the social fabric of their society.

Religion thus has seen a trickle down effect; the more educated one becomes, the easier his or her piety gets debunked. Generally speaking, only the less educated have remained religious and have kept an emotional attachment to their historical roots.

In other spheres of Albanian-Islamic contacts, Albania used to have observer status in the OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) which Albania has since abandoned. At one time an Albanian Islamic Bank was even formed in the capital Tirana. Other projects included building hospitals, schools, and cultural centers. However, the Albanians themselves were rather aloof about the development of relations with Islamic countries, because of their negative experience they had with their foreign brethren and because of a steady European influence.

And while Islam falters and struggles to find its place in a predominantly Muslim society, Christianity is flourishing in Albania. Not only are they influential religiously, but they also are dominant in the media, politics, schools and the general state apparatus.

Recently the Pope of the Catholic Church visited Albania and founded a large church in the heart of the capital city Tirana.

The churches and their organizations are very active and effective in their propagation and presentation of Christianity. They have established schools, hospitals, kindergardens, churches, welfare centers and seminaries. Many Christians who are native to the Balkans are well-versed in history, culture and psychology of the land.

Much of the Christian community's funding come from Italy, France and other powerful and wealthy countries. Other churches also are secretly connected to Albanian criminal gangs who have a big hand in disrupting life in Albania. Most churches are however successful because they are well organized and display professionalism, in contrast to the Muslim counterparts.

The influence of Europe in Albania, however, is not evident in the self-righteous churches but in the corruption of the soul and the society. Albanian Muslims are scattered throughout Italy and Europe prostituting themselves and their families. Crimes including theft, kidnapping, murders, rapes and other insidious affects of modernity are more visible today than they were in the history of Albania. Cultural morality, the highlight of Muslim Albania, is now disintegrating completely.

Ultimately, Albania is in the same predicament as the rest of the Muslim world; a state with a glorious past and an uncertain future trying to find its niche in a complex world. What compounds this situation is that while Albania is a Muslim majority state, Albania is not fully accepted by the Europeans. And while Europe may never accept Albania fully, the Albanian leadership desperately avoids contact with the Islamic world. It is a bewildering paradox.

This paradox is reflected in the individual Albanian, who in his attempts of modernization gives up his or her historical heritage. But what is a human being without their heritage? Albania and its sister state Kosovo are surrounded by enemies, but if they are at peace with each other and with themselves, it will be much harder for its warrior neighbors to harass them. The Ottoman Empire after all lived for 600 years even after the repeated assaults of the Crusading Christians. Muslims ruled Spain for 700 years in the midst of Western Europe. Albania similarly can live Islamically in the heart of Europe.

The Kosova dilemma is not just a dilemma for the Albanians, it is the question of our day for the Muslims in our time. In the medieval era, when the Mongols sacked Baghdad and destroyed civilization, a few Muslims stood up and threw the Mongols back on their heels. The Mongols eventually converted to Islam, led Muslim lives and contributed positively to the experience of the Ummah. Albania is under a Mongolian invasion all over again with Slobodan Milosevic the new Gengis Khan.