Islam in Albania
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Muslims in Albania amount to an estimated 10% to 12% of the total population, sharing the first place in number of religion adherents with the Orthodox Christians and followed by Roman Catholics.
Statistics as of 1939 estimated that 65 to 70 percent of Albanians were of Muslim affiliation (Sunni & Bektashi). However, decades of State Atheism which ended in 1991, caused a radical decline in religious practice in all traditions. The majority of Albanians today, up to 75% of the population, are nonreligious.[1][2][3][4] Like other religions, Islam has seen some limited revival since the official ban on all religious practice was lifted.
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[edit] Distribution
The Muslims of Albania are divided into two main communities: those associated with Sunni Islam and those associated with the Bektashi, a mystic Dervish order that came to Albania through the Ottoman Janissaries. The order resembles Sufi mystic orders but contains elements quite distinct from orthodox Islam. After the Bektashis were banned in Turkey in 1925 the order moved its world centre to Tiranas. In 1925, after Atatürk banned Sufi orders in Turkey, Albania became the world center of Bektashism, and the Albanian government subsequently recognized it as a body independent from Sunnism. Sunni Muslims were estimated to represent approximately 50% of the country's Muslim population before 1939, while Bektashi represented another 20%.
Muslims are spread throughout the country but are concentrated mostly in the middle and to a large extent in the south. The majority of Sunni Muslims have historically lived in the cities of Albania, while the Catholics and Bektashi Shias mainly in remote areas. Orthodox Christians remain mainly in the south, and Roman Catholics in the north of the country. However, in the modern times this division is not strict, particularly in the case of many urban centers, which have mixed populations. Foreign religious missionaries who have come to Albania since 1991 include Muslims from Arab Countries and Turkey, Evangelicals and Mormons who come mainly from the USA, Bahá'ís, Jehovah's Witnesses, Hindus, and many others freely carry out religious activities.
According to the State Committee on Cults, as of 2002 there were about 17 different Islamic societies and groups active in the country; some of these groups were foreign. There were 31 Christian societies representing more than 45 different organizations and 500 to 600 Christian and Bahá'í missionaries. The largest foreign missionary groups were American, British, Italian and Greek.
[edit] Islam in Albania before 1944
Since Albania has been part of the Ottoman Empire for almost five centuries the integration of Albanians into this empire went hand in hand with the gradual spread of Islam. When Albania was declared an independent country, it emerged as the only Muslim-majority state in Europe.
In the North, the spread of Islam was slower as the Roman Catholic Church was strong and the mountainous terrain slowed the influx of Ottoman influences. In the South, however, Catholicism was not as strong and by the end of the seventeenth century the region had largely adopted the religion of the growing Albanian Muslim elite. The existence of a growing Albanian Muslim class of pashas and beys who played an increasingly important role in Ottoman political and economic life made adopting the religion of the Ottoman elite an increasingly attractive option for most Albanians. At the end of five centuries of being an Ottoman province, Albania emerged with a majority Muslim society.
Despite Albania's new demographics, however, religious pragmatism continued as a distinctive trait of both Christian and Muslim Albanian society, leaving inter-religious harmony a proud trademark of Albanian culture. A Roman Catholic intellectual and poet, Pashko Vasa (1825-1892), made the trenchant remark, later co-opted by Enver Hoxha, that "The religion of the Albanians is Albanianism" (Gheg Albanian: "Feja e shqyptarit asht shqyptaria").
[edit] References
This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.
- ^ US Department of State - International Religious Freedom Report 2006 - [1]
- ^ L'Albanie en 2005 - [2]
- ^ Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns ", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005) [3]
- ^ Goring, Rosemary (ed). Larousse Dictionary of Beliefs & Religions (Larousse: 1994); pg. 581-584. Table: "Population Distribution of Major Beliefs" [4]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Bektashi Community
- Myftinia Shkodër, Mufti of Shkodra City
- The Muslim Forum of Albania
- Newspaper "Drita Islame"
- Magazine "Familja"
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