UNMIK on Air

October 27 2003

“Islam in Kosovo”

(By Valon A. Syla)

Once upon a time a traveler from the Balkans made a journey from the West to the East, and when he was asked what he experienced on both sides of the world he said: When I went to the West I saw Islam without Muslims, and when I went to the East I saw Muslims without Islam.

So where does that leave the Balkans? In the West or the East…or somewhere midway??

Hello and welcome to UNMIK on Air.

If you travel around Kosovo you will see any number of mosques and orthodox churches, but it is not so easy to find a practicing Muslim or Christian. All these religious edifices were built more than 500 years ago, first under the Byzantine and then the Ottoman Empire, which also brought Islam to Kosovo.

The meaning of the word Islam means peace, while the etymology of this word signifies God’s instructions for humankind.

The holy month of Ramazan has begun, but if you visit one of Pristina’s numerous mosques these days, you will meet mostly old people, who have gathered for prayers.

Jahir Berisha: Long time ago there were many people praying at the mosque, but in the time of communism, the party was telling us that we should not pray, especially youngsters, so people by and large started to leave the mosque and the religion. But today after the war, there are many young people who are coming to pray

Jahir Berisha says that he was born a Muslim 63 years ago, and that many generations before him were Muslim. He does not speak Arabic, but he can sing some of the prayers without knowing the meaning. This because most of the religious texts have not been translated into Albanian. But for him it’s important to know the prayers and meaning of Islam because he learned it from his family. Ali Kamberi, an imam from Prishtina explains:

Ali Kamberi: “Unfortunately in many cases, Islam in Kosovo is a family legacy, a phenomenon also present in other nations where people are merely born into a religion. Islam claims to reveal the truth and imparts knowledge and it condemns ignorance and blind support”

Around 85 percent of the Kosovan population is Muslim while the remainder is Orthodox and Catholic Christian. Despite the presence of 3 world religions here, says sociologist Adrian Arifaj, their influence is in fact very minimal.

Adrian Arifaj: The manner in which we behave is more influenced by the Canon of Leka Dukagjini, especially if you visit the villages in Kosovo and you ask for advice or an answer, the people will respond based on the precepts in the Canon. So their starting point is neither the Bible nor Koran or any other religious book.

Religious books were rare to find in communist times but they are freely available today in some of the mosques. Imam Kamberi thinks that immediately after the war there was a sharp rise in the number of youth attracted to Islam, but that tendency has now fallen off. The current world climate, where Islam often tends to be equated to fundamentalism or terrorism has also contributed to the drop in interest in Islam in Kosovo.

Ali Kamberi: Some young people genuinely converted to Islam because of the literature they had access to. This section of the youth found support in Islam and this is continuing. But the opposite can be seen amongst the traditionalists, those who have inherited Islam from their families. Because of some of the global events taking place today, I suppose that they feel ashamed because that they are being called Muslims, and for this I think they feel more distanced”

For some, disinterest in Islam and religion is because they want to be seen as trendy and modern, for others, being a-religious is a way of getting closer to Europe. But many practicing Muslims prefer to keep their religiosity private, because they feel totally isolated in contemporary Kosovan society.

Last year in the philological faculty of the University of Prishtina, a student went to her class with a yashmak or headscarf and she was not allowed to attend the lecture because she refused to uncover her head. This was the wrong approach to take, feels Ardian Arifaj.

Ardian Arifaj: I evaluate it as a mistake, if the girl has decided that she would like to be covered with a yashmak it’s her right, especially when you have so many girls who are allowed to attend the faculty dressed in skimpy clothes. If the university had a strict dress code, that would be different, but this is not the case.

Islam is alive in Kosovo today, but very different from the way it is practiced and lived in most Muslim countries. The majority of Kosovan Muslims are only partly religious, according to sociologist Ardian Arifaj, and there is a contradiction here.

Ardian Arifaj: If you’re a religious person, you cannot say I will only follow those rules, which I like and disregard those I find inconvenient. And in Kosovo, the majority are people who choose the rules they are prepared to follow, and don’t bother to respect the rest.

Ramadan is however one of the most popular religious events for Kosovan Muslims and even those who are not deeply religious observe the rules of the fasting period. Ramazan is a period for spiritual rebirth says Naim, a young Muslim from Prishtina.

Naim: The month of Ramazan helps me cleanse myself from the inside, because after 13 or 14 hours of fasting, my mind is turned to the poor and the underprivileged. For me personally, during this period I feel more solidarity with the less well off than during the rest of the year. I make sure that Ramazan doesn’t end without providing some concrete help to a poor person even if it means I have to go without something.

And that brings us to an end of this edition of UNMIK on air. Thanks for listening.