The Islamic Community Organizations of Macedonia and Bosnia-Hercegovina Are Affiliated With the Muslim Brotherhood
Conversation with Stephen Sulejman Schwartz of the Center for Islamic Pluralism

by Cvetin Chilimanov
Dnevnik [Macedonia]
April 5, 2013

http://www.islamicpluralism.org/2220/the-islamic-community-organizations-of-macedonia

The Painted Mosque, Tetova, Macedonia, constructed 15th c. CE, rebuilt 19th c. -- Photograph 2009 Via Wikimedia Commons.

Stephen Schwartz, or Sulejman Schwartz, as he is called by Muslims since he accepted Islam in Bosnia during the 1990s, is the executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, an organization that advocates tolerance and coexistence between the multiple interpretations within Islam and toward other religions.

A former daily journalist and author of books on Islam and the Spanish Revolution, his interest in the Balkans began with the approach of war in the former Yugoslavia. In Macedonia, Schwartz is best known as an advocate for the rights of the Bektashi community to which he belongs, and he writes often in journals in the United States about them. In our conversation in Washington, where his Center works, he says Balkan Islam deserves to be supported as tolerant and resistant to radical movements, primarily in Albania and Kosova, but he is concerned deeply about the situation in Macedonia.

"Kosova is a secular society. Albania is a secular society, without a lot of religious participation, with the possible exception of the Catholics and the Bektashis, the latter who are highly regarded for their contribution to the independence of Albania, as represented by Ismail Qemali Vlora.

"Sunni Muslims, who are the probable majority in Albania, do not promote themselves much. But in Bosnia and Macedonia, the official Muslim religious communities are affiliated with the organization of Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna. That's a problem. However, the problem is not among the ordinary believers, but in the leadership that promotes a simplified Islam, which does not require serious study of the Muslim faith, but, rather, after reading a few ayas (verses) of Qur'an, they send you out to protest and disrupt harmony in society," says Schwartz.

The Muslim Brotherhood, an international organization for the spread of Islam founded in Egypt early in the last century and which has recently come to power in that country, is, according to Schwartz, trying to expand its influence in the Balkans and to promote its rigid interpretation of Islam. "The [official] Islamic Communities in the Balkans are manipulated by the enemies of Islam and non-Muslims, in order to divide the Muslims from their neighbors and to impose radical Islam on the Balkan Muslims, who are considered to be susceptible to such influence. Albanians are considered especially vulnerable, since the Muslim radicals view them with contempt because of their pro-American attitudes," says Schwartz.

"Radical Islam is in the minority in the worldwide Islamic community and can be overcome by mobilizing Muslims. The majority of Muslims in the world do not support radicalism and therefore it is difficult to understand why the Macedonian Muslims associate with groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, except perhaps for the fact that they feel disadvantaged as a minority," says Schwartz.

Schwartz believes that the Bektashis, as members of a mystical Sufi order in Islam, are well positioned to restore their influence as a moderate movement in the Balkans. They lost power in Turkey after the suppression of the Janissary units in Turkey in the 19th century and were repressed in Albania and Yugoslavia under Communism.

Radical Islamist destruction at Harabati Baba Sufi shrine, Tetova, 2010 -- Photograph by Bektashi Community of the Republic of Macedonia.

"The Harabati Baba Teqe in Tetova is the largest Sufi installation in the Balkans [outside Albania.] I cannot express fully in words how much the loss of the teqe, its takeover by the extremist Sunni group, which never recognized it, is a heavy blow to the Sufi community. Baba Taher Emini died of a heart attack as a consequence of the Wahhabi aggression at the Tetova teqe. The Macedonian authorities have to react and to obtain justice for the Bektashis in Macedonia, to return the property rights they enjoyed before Communism. If Macedonia does this, you will be supported by Bektashis and other Sufi Muslims around the world, especially considering that the leader of the Bektashis now, Baba Edmond Brahimaj, is a former leader of the Macedonian Bektashis," says Schwartz, who added that, according to his estimates, Bektashis have about 27,000 adherents in Gostivar, Tetova and other cities around the country.

Sulejman Schwartz warns that the promotion of moderate Islam is especially important considering the bloody civil war in Syria and the expectation that the shocks of it will be felt in all the countries in the world where Muslims live.

"The events in Syria will affect the next three generations. Syria, which is the birthplace of the Sunni tradition, turned into a major battleground of blood, bodies and ruins. Every Sunni older than nine years of age is following what is happening in Syria, and will not forget what has taken place. I am concerned about their relations with Shiites around the world, since Iran supports Syria. Because of this we mostly moderate Muslims will pay the price," says Schwartz.

The municipal shield of the city of Tetova. depicting the Harabati Baba teqe around which the town was built. The municipal authorities have failed to assist the Bektashis at the teqe against the Wahhabi interlopers.

Related Topics:  Albanian Muslims, Balkan Muslims, Bektashi Sufis, Bosnian Muslims, European Muslims, Kosovo, Macedonia, Muslim Brotherhood, Sufism, Wahhabism receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free center for islamic pluralism mailing list