Ruairi O'Connell

Islam in Kosovo

Easter Sunday tells us a lot about Islam in Kosovo.

During the Easter weekend, Kosovo's public broadcaster (RTK - http://www.rtklive.com/eng/index.php) transmitted a series of films about Easter, catering mainly, but not exclusively, to Kosovo's Catholic population (which consists of ethnic Albanians and Croats). Tellingly, Kosovo's Albanian Muslims also celebrated Easter, sometimes with their Catholic neighbours, but often on their own.
 
Islam arrived in Kosovo with the Ottoman empire. Beforehand, the Albanian population across the Balkans was mostly Christian, following either the Greek Orthodox Church or Roman Catholicism. The conversions to Islam were, in the main, voluntary. But they were also often 'economic', to get access to the exemption from tax granted to Muslims under the Ottomans. Hence Albanian Islam was famous historically for the practice of 'crypto-Christianity', where the head of the household converted to Islam, but women remained Christian, and children were raised (in varying degrees) in the Christian faith. This practice continued into the twentieth century - and has echoes even in the 1990s, when Kosovo Albanian Muslims, would, for example, visit the Decani Monastery (http://www.kosovo.net/main.html) on feast days. Colleagues who have served in other Muslim countries, including in the Middle East, tell me that this happens elsewhere too.

While Albanians were early, generally willing, converts, Islam never penetrated very deep into Albanian society. And unlike other Balkan Muslim communities, Islam played a very minor role in the creation of an Albanian national identity; instead, Albanian culture and language were the core around which Albanian identity was formed.

Earlier this month, Kosovo sent a delegation to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference Summit (http://www.oic-oci.org/oicnew/home.asp) headed by their Minister for Education, Enver Hoxhaj. Their aim was to use the opportunity to lobby a number of states to recognise Kosovo - many of whom have previously expressed solidarity with Kosovo. This has been and remains a difficult balancing act; seeking international recognition - but avoiding using Islam to define Kosovo.

Kosovo leaders play this balancing act elsewhere. A large number of mosques were destroyed by Yugoslav forces during the Kosovo war. I have written before about the corresponding destruction of churches after the war. Whereas the Kosovo government pledged to rebuild and repair all the damaged Churches - it made no such commitment for mosques (neither did the Serbian government); instead, those rebuilt were done so with private donations. For a few days, the decision to rebuild Churches but not mosques caused some minor controversy. But the feeling amongst most Kosovo Albanians, once people had reflected, was that it was right that they pay to repair the damage done by their co-nationals; some would also have felt uncomfortable with Kosovo paying for mosques from its budget. The draft Kosovo constitution (http://www.kushtetutakosoves.info/repository/docs/DraftConstitutionEnglish.pdf - "The Republic of Kosovo is a secular state and neutral in matters of religious belief") is avowedly secular. Will Kosovo offer an example of a secular, European, majority-Muslim democracy?

Posted at 11:28 25 March 2008 by Ruairi O'Connell  |  Comments[4]