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Albania
RELIGION
Before 1944
One of the major legacies of nearly five centuries of Ottoman
rule was the conversion of up to 70 percent of the Albanian population
to Islam. Therefore, at independence the country emerged as a
predominantly Muslim nation, the only Islamic state in Europe.
No census taken by the communist regime after it assumed power
in 1944 indicated the religious affiliations of the people. It
has been estimated that of a total population of 1,180,500 at
the end of World War II, about 826,000 were Muslims, 212,500 were
Orthodox, and 142,000 were Roman Catholics. The Muslims were divided
into two groups: about 600,000 adherents of the Sunni (see Glossary)
branch and more than 220,000 followers of a dervish order known
as Bektashi (see Glossary), which was an offshoot of the Shia
(see Glossary) branch. Bektashism was regarded as a tolerant Muslim
sect that also incorporated elements of paganism and Christianity.
Christianity was introduced during Roman rule. After the division
of the Roman Empire in 395, Albania became politically a part
of the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire, but remained ecclesiastically
dependent on Rome. When the final schism occurred in 1054 between
the Roman and Eastern churches, the Christians in southern Albania
came under the jurisdiction of the ecumenical patriarch in Constantinople
(see Glossary), and those in the north came under the purview
of the papacy in Rome. This arrangement prevailed until the Ottoman
invasions of the fourteenth century, when the Islamic faith was
introduced. The apostasy of the people took many decades.
In the mountainous north, the propagation of Islam was strongly
opposed by Roman Catholics. Gradually, however, backwardness,
illiteracy, the absence of an educated clergy, and material inducements
weakened resistance. Coerced conversions sometimes occurred, especially
when foreign Roman Catholic powers, such as the Venetian Republic,
were at war with the Ottoman Empire. By the close of the seventeenth
century, the Catholics in the north were outnumbered by the Muslims.
After the Ottoman conquest, thousands of Orthodox Christians
fled from southern Albania to Sicily and southern Italy, where
their descendants, most of whom joined the Uniate Church (see
Glossary), still constitute a sizable community. Large-scale forced
conversions of the Orthodox Christians who remained in Albania
did not occur until the seventeenth century and the Russo-Turkish
wars of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Pressure was
put on this group because the Ottoman Turks considered its members
sympathetic to Orthodox Russia. The situation of the Orthodox
adherents improved temporarily after the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji
(1774), in which Russia was recognized as the protector of the
Orthodox followers in the Ottoman Empire. The most effective method
employed by the Ottoman Turks in their missionary efforts, especially
in the central and southern parts of the country, was the creation
of a titled Muslim class of pashas and beys who were endowed with
both large estates and extensive political and administrative
powers. Through their political and economic influence, these
nobles controlled the peasants, large numbers of whom were converted
to Islam either through coercion or the promise of economic benefits.
In the period from independence to the communist seizure of power,
the Muslim noble class constituted Albania's ruling elite, but
this group never interfered with religious freedom, which was
sanctioned by the various pre-World War II constitutions. These
constitutions had stipulated that the country have no official
religion, that all religions be respected, and that their freedom
of exercise be assured. These provisions reflected the true feelings
of the people who, whether Muslim, Orthodox, or Roman Catholic,
were generally tolerant in religious matters.
For generations, religious pragmatism was a distinctive trait
of the Albanians. Even after accepting Islam, many people privately
remained practicing Christians. As late as 1912, in a large number
of villages in the Elbasan area, most men had two names, a Muslim
one for public use and a Christian one for private use. Adherence
to ancient pagan beliefs also continued well into the twentieth
century, particularly in the northern mountain villages, many
of which were devoid of churches and mosques. A Roman Catholic
intellectual, Vaso Pashko (1825-92), made the trenchant remark,
later co-opted by Enver Hoxha, that "the religion of the Albanians
is Albanianism."
Data as of April 1992
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