Islamic Identity of Albanians - Myth or Reality?!

Ermal BEGA

Tirana-Albania

ISLAMIC IDENTITY OF ALBANIANS - MYTH OR REALITY?!

Islamic identity and/or European identity of Albanians, has recently become a pretty big problem among the prominent personalities, academics and researchers of various Albanian territories.

Discussions on this issue are not new to us Albanians who have suffered throughout history, but have come to the surface more often in later times, when for a long time various newspapers, print and broadcast media in Albania and Kosova have opened the debate about whether the Albanians have a Muslim identity (belonging to Islam) or have a European identity (which means you need to be Christian-Catholic-Latin or Greek-Slavic-Orthodox)?

I don’t understand, first of all, why we need to do this kind of debate in vain, considering that Europe and the world at large know very well and very clearly that the majority of the Albanian people are of the Islamic religion, with actions or without them (practicing or not), knowingly or through ignorance (as most of the people who have Albanian Muslim names, but do not have any knowledge about their religion).

Secondly, I fail to understand why this dirty politics is becoming so sneakily anti-Islamic in Albania. Islam is a faith which has never created problems to those who practice it, and nobody has seen anything bad from this faith and from its believers.

If denying the Islamic identity of the Albanians, and the fear that as Muslims we can not enter in Europe is the only reason these personalities present, we respond that "fear is a permanent companion of injustice" (W. Shakespeare) , and "courage without reason is just one of the types of fear" (Seneca).

But to return back to the topic we are talking about, I would like to quote here a question-statement the great Imam, patriot, teacher, former adviser to the Ministry of Education and the largest Albanian politician Hafiz Ali Korça made in 1944, when the second edition of his book "Seven Dreams of Albania" (the book which was reprinted in 2006, in Tirana), was published: "When Europe decided to create this piece of Albania, it put us the requirement that in case we would leave the Islamic religion they would build this piece of Albania, or else they would totally divide up the lands. But this is not right, because we know very well that if it was not for the majority of the Muslim population, this piece would also have been divided."

In connection with numerous talks and debates that have arisen in the media and the propaganda that allegedly Albanians are secular and have a secular state (it certainly was made to eliminate the Albanian Muslim majority), I wanted to add a saying of Napoleon Bonaparte, when he saw that boundless liberalism had gone to excess and religion was being trampled upon, he said: "Faith (belief) should exist, because even if there would be no religion (faith), we would need to create one, because only religion can provide the morale and discipline of a nation”, and having said this he made a provision to create a well-equipped clergy.

Germans say: "A professor however learned he is, if he is non-religious (secular) should not even enter in elementary schools let alone in universities."

The last term is appropriate for those who seek to throw all Albanians in the Christian religion, who until yesterday were attacking Islam and Albanian Muslims in secret, and now we face them as brave hearts through electronic media and who keep asserting again with a tenacity like that of a hog, that Albanians do not belong to an Oriental Muslim identity, but belong to that of European Christians.

The worst is that these personalities, by name, belong to the Islamic faith themselves, even though out of their Jahiliya (ignorance) they confuse the terms such as Islam with Muslimanism, and Muslims with Mohammedans, etc.. Islam did not take the name of the prophet who has come down to proclaim this faith and way of life, as Christianity was derived from Christ (Jesus according to Islam), Buddhism from Buddha, etc..

But if these figures are not willing to declare their Islam, they have the right to accept another faith (even though according to the Islamic constitution, if a Muslim changes his faith, he is considered a renegade), and in this case may change their names, such as from Hayrullah (which means "mercy of God") to Thanas or Vangjel, from Abdullah to Pal or Gjon, from Ismail (name of a Blessed Prophet - Ishmail for Christians) to John, from Fahri (which means "cheerer ") to Francis etc., but have no right to interfere in the personal affairs of other individuals or of a majority of a certain faith, because in this way automatically they create rifts between communities and the responsibility rests with them for any later situation that may arise, as the rift that happened between the Muslim-majority community and the Catholics in Shkodra on the issue of placing the cross on a hill, in a village where most residents of the area belonged to the Islamic faith).

It is true that now the Albanians are living in freedom and democracy, but freedom and democracy have a slogan, which reads: "Freedom and democracy will mean that you are free to do and say everything you want, except to do harm to yourself and others."

In this context, here comes the idea that anyone is free to choose what he wants, but can not and has no right to impose his views on others.

We (I mean the pseudo-Muslim Albanians) can not become "more Catholic than the Pope."

Then why continue to debate in vain an issue that has been resolved by the Albanians themselves through their acceptance of Islam before 600 or some years (before the advent of the Turks), and is well known that the Albanian people have accepted Islam knowingly and willingly, for objective and subjective reasons which are unknown, and never with violence, and for those periods during which there was "violence", it has never been to accept Islam by violence, but for political and personal reasons.

This shows very clearly that the Albanians have never fought among themselves for religious matters, but only for personal and tribal issues.

Meanwhile, in present times Albania, it is very well known that people who manage most of politics, art, culture, business, cinema, media, publication of books etc. are people of Christian faith (Catholic and Orthodox in particular, where most of them are of non-Albanian origin, but have settled sometime ago in Albania), and Muslims never said anything against them.

One day, I heard from a friend that deputy publicist Nikoll Lesi, in the newspaper that he leads, some time ago (it's this year) had published an article in which he showed the origin of some of the politicians of a party, where most of them were of the Orthodox faith but were not of Albanian origin, and we have not heard any problems or statements by the Albanian Muslims about this though they were Christians, because Islam accepts the rule of non-Muslims in the state when you can not find a suitable person to rule or when a Muslim country is invaded, but only when they are right and govern with justice.

Unfortunately, other faiths do not have this same tolerance, but they require that people necessarily turn to the religion of those who rule.

Christian Europe does not see Islam only as a wall or as a blockade against their wishes or their claims, but they (the West) believe and are convinced that Islam is the only threat against them and their countries.

European Christian orientalist Gardner says: "It is the secret strength of Islam that scares Europe."

Christian-European identity of Albanians is a slogan that was declared in the beginning of the twentieth century (this corresponds to the saying that we mentioned above, told by Hafiz Ali Korca), but which has reached its largest proportions after the 1990’s.

Albania‘s presence in the Islamic Conference based in Saudi Arabia and where Albania has its representative office, is frequently being attacked. About Albania’s membership in that organization was spoken much in the debate which was held few days ago in Tirana, on the question of European identity of Albanians, which was attended by some of the personalities who support the Christian European identity of Albanians. Unfortunately, however, they had not invited any Muslim personality (apparently with a specific purpose) and no representative of the Albanian Muslim Community was invited to attend by the media but there were invited only personalities of Christian communities, Catholic and Orthodox (and priests of these religions), different scholars who support the Christian European identity of Albanians, the director of the national library, a Vlach who is Orthodox and other Christian personalities or pseudo-Christians.

If we debate why Albania, with a rate of 80% of the Muslim religion, is a member of the Islamic Conference, then what to say about Russia and Thailand as countries observing the conference, where the percentage of Muslims there is very low compared to the number of the population.

As for the “incomplete” identity of the Albanians, whether they should belong to the Orient or Europe, it is a delicate matter which can not be explained only with a writing or just with a speech. Islam at the time after the atheistic-Communist system in Albania is shown as it is in fact, i.e. an Islam which has always existed, and this corresponds to the saying of Orientalist Gardner that we mentioned above, what threatens Europe is the hidden strength of Islam. Precisely, even those persons who seek necessarily to identify with European Christian identity are the product of that system.

It is not true that Albanian Muslims do not want Europe, because, intentionally or unintentionally, God has placed us in this part of the world, and we are much more connected to Europe than to the Orient, but the problem is that, again turning to the words of Gardner mentioned above, Europe should not fear Islam among the Albanians, but must accept us as we are, and let her not drag her feet on us just as Turkey is being dragged for years.

Islamic religious identity of most Albanians as members of the old continent will exist until Europe will try to bring back us strongly to Christianity by missionaries and delegates, internal and external, as it seems to have done with some of the known personalities (with payments or any positions), or divide us and wait until we ourselves accept the conditions it requires of our people in Albania.

Translated from Albanian:

Armir TARAJ