A Balkan beacon: Albania preserves a culture of interfaith coexistence

In the Balkans, a region where religion is often used as a divisive weapon, Albania proves that interfaith coexistence is possible.

Believers professing different faiths interact in every field of society across the country. They send greetings to each other during religious festivities and interfaith marriages are a natural consequence of this harmony.

Some of the capital Tirana’s religious sites, such as the Et’hem Bey Mosque and the Resurrection of Christ Orthodox Cathedral, which are both situated around Skanderbeg Square, are close to each other and receive worshippers at any time of the day in a respectful atmosphere.

"We promote coexistence by enhancing our history of interfaith dialogue, especially among students. Youth show interest in religion, unlike their parents who lived under communism"

Albania, a Southeastern European secular state, is home to around 2.8 million people belonging to various branches of Islam and Christianity.

According to the last census published in 2011, Sunni Muslims make up the clear majority with around 1.6 million believers.

There is a sizable presence of Roman Catholics (281,000), Eastern Orthodox (189,000) and Bektashi Muslims (59,000), an Islamic Sufi order. Evangelicals are also part of Albania’s religious spectrum.

These figures are questionable since the census was criticised by every community and deemed unreliable by the Council of Europe.

Nevertheless, the figures seem not to be relevant. When asked about the percentage of faithful, the former head of Albanian Muslims Hafiz Sabri Koçi used to say that “whatever the numbers of believers of every religion are, Albania belongs to every citizen and we have to live together in peace.”

Many factors have helped build this safe environment, which has been fed for centuries.

Primarily, Albania’s geographical position played an important role, with the country always being at the intersection of East and West absorbing all major monotheistic religions.

Historical circumstances, such as wars and foreign occupations, constituted a challenge for the local population. At those times, being Albanian was more essential than religious affiliation and this helped preserve the nation’s unity. As the famous Albanian poet Pashko Vasa put it in 1878, Albania’s faith is Albanianism.

The communist regime represented another tough obstacle to overcome.

In 1967, Enver Hoxha proclaimed Albania the first atheist country in the world, outlawing religious practices. He ordered the destruction or conversion of churches and mosques and persecuted religious leaders.

An atheistic museum was erected as part of the government’s brainwashing process to turn people away from religions. The plan succeeded if we look at a 2015 Friedrich Ebert Foundation study revealing that 80% of youth aged 16–27 aren’t religious practitioners.

Ermal Kuka, a local journalist, claims that communism also fostered Albania’s harmony since all citizens have been brought into line with the regime’s principles and nobody focused on one’s religious identity. “Communism destroyed thinking people to forge the ideal man,” adds Zef Bisha, father of Tirana’s Church of Sacred Heart, where both Catholic and Orthodox rituals were celebrated before the rise of communism.

"In Albania, you can find families whose members belong to different religions... In these cases, parents always find a way to respect each other’s faith"

“Citizens who don’t give importance to religion aren’t the majority,” says Lauren Luli, Tirana’s grand Mufti. “Practitioners are far more knowledgeable compared to when the communist regime fell apart in 1991.”

In Luli’s opinion, the biggest credit for Albania’s interfaith coexistence goes to the religious leaders. “Despite all the geopolitical changes Albania went through during its history, they have always been careful to safeguard our society’s harmony. That’s why in 1991 believers had a ready-made model to follow. It has always been there.”

In the early 1900s, Haxhi Vehbi Dibra, Albania’s first grand Mufti, and Visarion Xhuvani, the primate of Albania’s Orthodox Church, were best friends. After the fall of communism, Muslims and Christians together reconstructed mosques and churches in various cities.

In 1990, in his first speech in the Shkoder’s mosque, Koçi referred to Catholics and Orthodox as ‘dear brothers’. Examples of mutual respect are everywhere, but coexistence shouldn’t be taken for granted. “All the religious conflicts we see around the world have contributed to consolidating our interfaith dialogue because we understand that it’s a value we have to work on,” Luli says. 

This is where the Interreligious Council of Albania (Irca) founded in 2007 comes into play. “It was needed as a flower needs water to survive,” says Genti Kruja, Irca’s general secretary and professor of sociology.

"We promote coexistence by enhancing our history of interfaith dialogue, especially among students. Youth show interest in religion, unlike their parents who lived under communism.”

Irca organises symposiums, conferences and a summer school on religious freedom and democracy opened to every student.

“But what’s most impactful is that Irca was founded by all Albania’s religious leaders, who marked the institutionalisation of interfaith dialogue in the country,” Kruja highlights.

“In Albania, you can find families whose members belong to different religions,” says Bisha. In these cases, parents always find a way to respect each other’s faith. “Some mixed couples opt for baptising their children following both religious rituals,” Bisha admits. “Some others don’t marry or marry following both religions' traditions.”

The effort to nurture this interreligious dialogue is so fruitful that in some circumstances it has even brought together the most rigid people of every religious group.

In the region of Tirana, an imam married a fervent Catholic woman from a very conservative family. “At the beginning, they hardly accepted me, but they eventually changed their opinion on Islam and I was the first Muslim to join their community,” says this imam, who prefers to stay anonymous.

“Now, every time I pay a visit to them, they don’t eat pork, nor drink alcohol.” The imam’s own family is the emblem of coexistence, with his parents being Bektashi and his sister Catholic. His best friends profess different religions and he’s also close to priests and monks. “In Albania, we are first people, then Albanian and finally, if we want to, we belong to a religious community.”

Alex Čizmić is a freelance journalist based between Italy and Bosnia-Herzegovina, who writes about the Balkans.

Follow him on Twitter: @AlexCizmic