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Official census suggests Muslims in Albania amount to 10% of the total population, sharing the first place in number of religion adherents with the Orthodox Christians and followed by Roman Catholics. However, U.S. Dept of State as of 2007 puts the figure to 70% .

Statistics as of 1930 estimated that 65 to 70 percent of Albanians were of Muslim affiliation (Sunni and 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.

Like other religions, Islam has seen some limited revival since the official ban on all religious practice was lifted.

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 and the abdication of Paganism and Christianity. When Albania was declared an independent country in 1912, 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.

In 1923, the Albanian Muslim congress convened at Tirana decided to break with the Caliphate, establishing a new form of prayer (standing, instead of the traditional salah ritual), banishing polygamy and the mandatory use of veil (hijab) by women in public.

During the monarchy religious institutions of all confessions were put under state control. This trend was taken to extreme during the totalitarian regime, when religions, identified as imports foreign to Albanian culture, were banned altogether.

Distribution

The Muslims of Albania were 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 by Atatürk, the order moved its world centre to Tirana 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%.

Sunni Muslims have historically lived in the cities of Albania, while Bektashi Shias mainly in remote areas whereas Orthodox Christians 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.

References

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1. US Department of State - International Religious Freedom Report 2006 -
2. L'Albanie en 2005 -
3. Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns ", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005)
4. Goring, Rosemary (ed). Larousse Dictionary of Beliefs & Religions (Larousse: 1994); pg. 581-584. Table: "Population Distribution of Major Beliefs"
5. A note about Albania published in Time magazine in April 14, 1923

See also

• Religion in Albania
• Islam by country

External links

• The Bektashi Community
• Myftinia Shkodër, Mufti of Shkodra City
• The Muslim Forum of Albania
• Newspaper "Drita Islame"
• Magazine "Familja"

• Religion in Albania
• Islam in Albania