Bektashi Sufis in the Albanian National Renaissance
The Universal Significance of the League of Prizren

by Stephen Schwartz
Illyria [New York]
November 28, 2009

http://www.islamicpluralism.org/1425/bektashi-sufis-in-the-albanian-national

The flag of the Albanian nation.

The foundation of the League of Prizren in 1878 is considered by all Albanian patriots and Albanologists to mark the commencement of the Albanian National Renaissance or Rilindja Kombëtare. For most commentators, the formation of the League was mainly a defensive and even a military consequence, brought about by Russian and Balkan Slavophone aggression during the so-called "Eastern Crisis" beginning in 1875. Russian imperialism, then as now, incited the Orthodox Christians of Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro to rebellion and war against Turkish rulers, non-Slavic-speaking, and non-Orthodox inhabitants of the region. In this conflict, Albanians were caught between their national desire for greater autonomy in the Ottoman system, and the voracious onslaught of the Russian-backed powers. Russian troops invaded the Balkans and attacked northern Albania, but were defeated by Turkish forces in 1876.

Russia then chose to impose its ambitions in the region through diplomacy. In negotiations with Austria-Hungary, Moscow twice accepted the definition of Albania as a separate component of the Ottoman empire along with Bulgaria and Romania. But Russia then secured Habsburg neutrality in a prospective tsarist war with the Sultan, in exchange for Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia-Hercegovina. Beginning a fresh offensive against Turkey, Russia entered Bessarabia (today's Moldova) in 1877. In this phase of its overall plan for expansion and consolidation of its dominions, Russia was more successful in assisting their Serbian and Montenegrin accomplices. Both of the South Slav states annexed significant areas that historically had been Albanian-speaking and expelled thousands of their indigenous inhabitants southward, killing many of the muhaxhirs or refugees.

Serbia drove some 200,000 Albanians out of the cities of Nish, Vranje, Prokuple, Leskovac, and Kurshumlia, while Montenegro committed similar atrocities in Tivar, Ulqin, and Podgorica. Journalists at the time commented on the considerable number of deaths and generalized suffering that accompanied the Slav advance. The Turkish military panicked and fled, and as the Russians appeared close to complete victory in the region, the well-known treaty of San Stefano was signed by the Russians and Turks on March 3, 1878, handing the greater part of the spoils of war to a new "Greater Bulgaria." The latter state, although remaining tributary to the Sultan, was intended to include most of Macedonia, and the treaty turned over a major portion of the Albanian lands (known today as "ethnic Albania") to Bulgarian, Serbian, and Montenegrin control.

"Greater Bulgaria" encountered opposition from Serbia, backed by Britain. Serbia was irked by the expansion of Bulgaria, and Britain by the extension of Russian influence. Austria-Hungary, which sought confirmation of its occupation of Bosnia-Hercegovina, joined Serbia and Britain in opposing the San Stefano Treaty; Romania, which had opposed the Ottomans but received no substantial rewards, also feared a "Greater Bulgaria," and Greece, which had ambitions in Albania, Macedonia, Thrace, and some border areas, additionally dissented from the San Stefano proposals. Calls for revision of the San Stefano Treaty led to convocation of a new congress in Berlin. Hope among the Albanians that a review of the San Stefano Treaty would free them from the sudden spectre of Slav-speaking domination stimulated the formation of the League of Prizren on June 10, 1878, just prior to the meeting of the Congress of Berlin. Since the fate of Bosnia-Hercegovina, awarded to the Habsburgs by Russian diplomacy, was also to be determined by the Berlin negotiations, a small number of Bosnian delegates joined in the first meeting of the League.

Most of the participants in the League of Prizren represented the areas directly threatened by the San Stefano arrangement: northern Albania, Kosova, the sancak of Pazar i Ri, and Western Macedonia. The organization of the League had been preceded by defensive efforts including formation of Local Councils for National Salvation and foundation of the Central Committee for the Defense of Albanian National Rights, also known as the Albanian Society of Constantinople, in Istanbul in 1877, in the latter case with the participation of Muslims alongside Catholics and Christian Orthodox believers. The Ottoman metropolis was the original location for activities by three outstanding figures associated with the Rilindja, the Frashëri brothers: Abdyl (1839-1902), Naim (1846-1900), and Sami (1850-1904). Born in the southern town of Frashër, near Janina, the brothers were Bektashi in their religious culture, hewing to the distinctive, esoteric Sufi tradition that had long served the Ottoman state as chaplains of the yeniceri (janissaries). The Bektashi order was suppressed in Turkey itself in 1826, but retained considerable support among Albanians.

Haxhi Bektash Veli, 1209-1271 CE. may his mystery be sanctified.

The Bektashis have a unique history in Islam, as participants in the Ottoman establishment, and as Sufis. They had begun as ecstatic proselytizers for Islam, but as they rose to great standing in the Turkish empire, they became known as protectors of heterodox mystics, including the large community known as Alevis in Turkey (followers of Persian-influenced Sufism). Although they were victimized by the imperial reform measures taken at the insistence of the Western powers, they became acolytes of popular education and outstanding proponents of Albanian-language schooling, which was still prohibited under Turkish rule. Sami Frashëri utilized the network of Bektashi teqes in southern Albania to support demands for five basic changes: a single, unitary Albania, with administration by Albanian-speaking officials, Albanian-language schools, a legislative assembly, and development of a budget for education and public works. Sami Frashëri also became prominent as author of a wide range of literary and scientific works, while Naim is honored as one of Albania's greatest national poets, with the Catholic Gjergj Fishta (1871-1940).

Monument to the Frashëri Brothers, Prishtina, Kosova. Abdyl Frashëri (l), Sami Frashëri (c), Naim Frashëri (r).

Abdyl Frashëri emerged as the main political and intellectual figure in the League of Prizren, but its chief military personality was Ali Pasha Gucia, who had raised an army to resist Montenegrin annexation of his native territory, and who continued fighting for several years. Fishta's Highland Lute (Lahuta e Malcis) celebrates Ali Pasha Gucia. By these examples – Bektashi leadership in the form of Abdyl Frashëri and his brothers, literary praise as penned by the Franciscan Fishta – the universal significance of the League of Prizren becomes visible. The League anticipated the call to national unity of Pashko Vasa (1825-1892), also a Catholic and a supporter of the League of Prizren, who wrote in his poem O moj Shqypni, composed in the aftermath of the League's efforts, "feja e shqiptari asht shqiptaria" – "The religion of the Albanian is Albanian nationality!"

Ali Pasha Gucia, 1828–1885, with members of the Albanian League of Prizren, seated, first from left. Ali Pasha Gucia was martyred by Ottoman functionaries. He is a major protagonist of Lahuta e Malcís [The Mountain Lute] by Franciscan father Gjergj Fishta, 1871-1940, the epic poem of Albanian national resistance.

The League of Prizren created branches in all Albanian cities and towns, and was administered by a General Council and a National Committee. It was conceived as a "lobby" – the first of several, as we see today – that would convince the diplomats meeting in Berlin to prevent the partition of the Albanians by their Slavic-speaking neighbors. Abdyl Frashëri projected a besa, or alliance of all Albanians, regardless of religious affiliation, but his strategic objectives were limited to recognition of the Albanian nation, integrity of the historic Albanian lands, and their unification in a single territory. A single Albania would reproduce the nationalist pattern sought by the Bulgarians, Romanians, and Greeks. In contrast with the Southern Albanian, Bektashi-influenced adherents of Sami Frashëri's progressive program, Sunni Muslim Kosovar participants in the League concentrated on loyalty to the Ottoman state, although with considerable autonomy for Albanians, and the defense of Islamic law (shariah). And at first, the Turkish regime supported the Kosovar approach.

Ethnic Albania.

The Congress of Berlin, however, provided for occupation of the Albanian region of Gucia by Montenegro, and the Ottoman authorities chose to accept this unjust decision. When an Ottoman delegation arrived in Gjakova intent on convincing the Albanians to accept the Berlin outcome, it was attacked by gunfire over several days, leaving hundreds dead and wounded. After that, the Turkish court turned its face against the League of Prizren, but Albanian resistance was strengthened.

In the succeeding years, the League of Prizren changed, in two directions. It assumed governance in Kosova; and it gravitated further away from the Ottoman-loyalist and shariah-centric sentiments of its Sunni pioneers to accept the progressive program of Sami Frashëri and his Bektashi milieu. The General Council became its legislature, and the National Committee served as its executive. Three ministries were created, with responsibility for foreign affairs, internal order, and the financing of military defense.

The League conducted a successful campaign to repel Montenegrin and Russian soldiers. In 1880 the League met in Shkodra to call for the autonomy of all Albanians, with equal backing from Catholics and Muslims. The next year the League assembled in Prizren and proclaimed a provisional government headed by Haxhi Ymer Prizreni (1821-87), with Abdyl Frashëri handling foreign affairs. The Ottoman court treated the regime created by the League as seditious, and through an extensive military campaign suppressed it, with the conquest of Prizren itself in 1881. Still, Albanian resistance continued for several years. Abdyl Frashëri was sentenced to prison, and Ymeri Prizreni was assassinated. But the examples of resistance in Gucia and the brief rule of the League of Prizren in Kosova provided evidence that Albanians could fight and, at least temporarily, prevail.

All these historical events are well known to most Albanian patriots. They have a multiply universal significance in that, to gain the freedom of the Albanian nation, the League of Prizren brought together representatives of the differing religious communities – Sunni Muslims and Catholics in the north, Bektashis in the south. In addition, the special role of the Frashëri brothers exemplified the dedication of the Bektashis to national enlightenment. Above all, the influence of the Frashëris led the League of Prizren to emphasize education in the Albanian language as the foundation of national development. But the history of the League of Prizren also teaches us that Albanians must be wary of attempts by Sunni radicals to substitute a "struggle for Islam" for the national cause of the Albanian people, whether in Kosova, or, as we have recently seen, in Albania. This point remains especially important in Macedonia, where Wahhabi aggression against the Bektashi teqe of Tetova threatens the long-established servants of the Albanian national conscience in that country.

Damage from an arson attack on the Harabati Baba teqe, in Tetova, Macedonia, 2010 – Photograph by the Bektashi Community of the Republic of Macedonia.

Sufis around the world should take special note of the importance of Prizren for the Islamic spiritual heritage in the Balkans. In the past, the city had a Bektashi teqe, founded in 1850 by Adem Baba, who was active with his successor, haxhi Adem Baba Kovaçi from Gjakova (1841-1927), in the League of Prizren, having cooperated with Abdyl Frashëri and established the League's local branch. But the Bektashi teqe has been closed since the first world war. At present Prizren is the headquarters of the Community of Aliite Islamic Dervishes, successor to the former Sufi coordinating body (excluding Bektashis) in ex-Yugoslavia. It is now headed by Sheh Adrihysen Shehu, a Rifa'i Sufi, and is located in a Rifa'i teqe built in 1893. Alongside Bektashis and Rifa'is, Sufis in Prizren have included two now-inactive Sinani teqes with tyrbes (shrines to Sufi saints), the Tabakhane (built in 1576) and Terzimahallë (17^th-18^th century). The Sinani Begzade teqe was opened in 1994. Prizren also shelters a Sa'adi teqe and tyrbe founded at the beginning of the 16^th century by 1500, two Kaderi teqe-tyrbes, the Kaderi-zinxheri (1646) and Kaderi-rezaki (1880), and a Halveti teqe and tyrbe (1691). Another esoteric strain of Sufism, the Melamis, came from Gjakova and built a teqe, which included a tyrbe, in 1892. As a legacy of the most important indigenous expression of Sufism in Europe, these are precious resources that must be protected from political abuse.

Prizren.

But the experience of the League of Prizren points to other lessons with profound relevance today. The first, of course, involves the intrigues of Russian imperialism in the Balkans. There should be no doubt, among Americans no less than Albanians, that the Putinite rulers in Moscow today seek to revive their goal of dominating the entire Balkan region, as part of the so-called "near abroad" comprising the former Communist puppet states of Eastern Europe, plus re-absorption of their immediate targets, the liberated ex-Soviet republics of Ukraine and Georgia. That, and not any business with Iran, is the meaning of Russian opposition to the placement of NATO missile defense assets in Poland and the Czech Republic.

That is also why Russia encourages the Bosnian Serbs in their new effort to make the illegitimate division of Bosnia-Hercegovina permanent, and the continuous attempt by Serbia to establish a similarly illegitimate zone in northern Kosova. Notwithstanding the declaration of Kosova's independence, the "international community" continues to apply the spirit of UN Resolution 1244, under which Kosova remained a Serbian possession, to the new republic. This malign attitude presumes a permanent partition throughout Kosova, with the expansion of Serbian enclaves, the new displacement of Albanian inhabitants or their consignment to Serbian rule under the pretext of "decentralization," and the assignment of major natural and economic resources in Kosova to Serbian administration. In Prizren itself, the house in which the League met in 1878 was demolished by the Serb occupiers in 1999, but has been rebuilt. But Prizren today is the object of a plan for its partition into enclaves derived from an abusive exploitation of Serbian religious monuments in the city. It is of the highest importance for Albanians to heed the appeal of Albin Kurti and the Vetëvendosje movement, to unite the city's ordinary residents, with Muslims, Catholics – who also have their diocesan seat for Kosova in Prizren – and Sufi representatives to oppose this scheme. I therefore propose that all Albanians and friends of Albanians, all supporters of traditional pluralism and spirituality, adopt the slogan "Hands Off Prizren!"

Albin Kurti of the Vetëvendosje Movement.

The League of Prizren, and its Albanian members, were victims of a phenomenon I have come to call "peace crime." In the name of peace between the Ottomans and the Orthodox powers, the rights of Albanians were ignored; Albanian independence was delayed for more than 30 years, to 1912; and the freedom of Kosova still, even now, remains vulnerable. Everybody knows about war crimes, even if many of them have gone unpunished or been trivialized by minimal sentences. Peace crimes and peace criminals represent the other side of the present-day international order. In the name of peace, Kosova remains a dependency, with real decision-making in the hands of the European Union and the rest of the "international community." In the name of peace, Serbia presses its claims to deny Kosova its rightful status in Europe. But like Abdyl Frashëri and Ali Pasha Gucia, Albanians have repeatedly demonstrated their loyalty to the principles that will inevitably assure their complete liberation: cultural enlightenment, refusal of religious-sectarian conflict, and single-minded resistance.

Sources for this article include:

George Gawrych, The Crescent and the Eagle, Ottoman Rule, Islam, and the Albanians, 1874-1913, London, Tauris, 2006;

Parim Kosova, The Complex of Monuments of the Albanian League of Prizren – Its Challenges, Prizren, 2006.

Noel Malcolm, Kosovo: A Short History, London, Macmillan, 1998.

Hysni Myzyri, National Education During the Albanian Renaissance, Tirana, Milenium i Ri, 2007.

Muhamed Shukriu, Prizreni i Lashtë, Prizren, 2001.

We Are One.

Related Topics:  Albanian Muslims, American Muslims, Balkan Muslims, Bektashi Sufis, European Muslims, Kosovo, Russia receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free center for islamic pluralism mailing list