Islam in the People's Socialist Republic of Albania (1945–1991) covers a period of time when the Communist Party of Albania came to power under Enver Hoxha and exercised almost total control over the Albanian people. The communist government sought to radically overhaul Albanian society by realigning social, cultural and religious loyalties to the communist party through Albanian nationalism in the pursuit of achieving a unitary Albanian identity.
Secularizing tenets borrowed from the National Awakening and interwar period were continued and more radical approaches were adopted to sideline religion from the public sphere, allowing Albania to declare itself an atheist state in 1967. Islam as practised by Muslims within Albania experienced profound changes and persecution under communism.
Muslim clergy became imprisoned, most minarets, mosques, tekkes and Sufi shrines were destroyed, Muslim religious practices banned, adherents were spied on by the state and people who did not comply were severely punished. The effects and legacy of persecution through forced de-Islamization of society led to post-war generations born under the Albanian communist regime having minimal to almost no knowledge of Islam.
Discrimination and emerging persecution (1945–1966)
In the aftermath of World War Two, the communist regime came to power and Muslims, most from southern Albania were represented from early on within the communist leadership group such as leader Enver Hoxha 1908–1985), his deputy Mehmet Shehu (1913–1981) and others.. Albanian society was still traditionally divided between four religious communities. In the Albanian census of 1945, Muslims were 72% of the population, 17.2% were Orthodox and 10% Catholic.. "The census of 1945 showed that the vast majority of society (72%) were Muslims, 17.2% of the population declared themselves to be Orthodox, and 10% Catholics." The communist regime through the concept of national unity attempted to forge a national identity that transcended and eroded these religious and other differences with the aim of forming a unitary Albanian identity. Albanian communists viewed religion as a societal threat that undermined the cohesiveness of the nation. Within this context, religions like Islam were denounced as "foreign" and clergy such as Muslim muftis were criticised as being socially backward with the propensity to become foreign agents and undermine Albanian interests. The Bektashi order at a congress in May 1945 reaffirmed within their statutes its independence from the Sunni community in Albania. In 1949, a law was passed that required religious institutions to inculcate feelings of loyalty among their adherents to the Albanian communist party and that all religions had to have their headquarters in Albania. Akin to the Orthodox, the Bektashis entered into agreements with the communist state without difficulties which defined what was considered acceptable activities of their religious clergy and the declaration of participation in communist propaganda campaigns. The communists during this time treated the Bektashis somewhat differently as part of their clergy and adherents were casualties during fighting in World War Two while some Albanian communist elites had Bektashi heritage... "The communist relations with particular religious communities differed and depended on the degree of loyalty towards the new government. The Orthodox and Bektashi's succeeded without difficulties in entering into agreements with the communist authorities, defining the acceptable range of clerical activity and declaring participation in propaganda campaigns organized by the communists... The Bektashi's were helped by the fact that, during wartime, 28 of the community's clergymen, as well as a few hundred of the faithful, were killed in fighting." However, some Sunni Muslim clergy individuals such as Mustafa Efendi Varoshi (mufti of Durrës), Hafez Ibrahim Dibra (former great mufti of Albania) and Xhemal Pazari (a prominent sheikh from Tiranë) were accused by the communists of collaborating with Axis occupying powers and imprisoned.
Religious leaders were selected by and acted as proxies for the communist party and the process was violent with Sunni Muslim leaders imprisoned and killed while the Bektashi head suffered a similar fate and by 1947 the communist regime had imprisoned 44 Muslim clergy.. "To a lesser degree, the repression also touched the Muslim community, as some of the clergy were accused of collaboration with the occupants. Among those imprisoned were the mufti of Durrës – Mustafa efendi Varoshi, Hafez Ibrahim Dibra – the former great mufti of Albania and sheh Xhemal Pazari from Tirana. In 1947, there were 44 Muslim clergymen, 36 Catholic priests, 16 Orthodox priests and one nun in Albanian prisons." Unlike their Christians counterparts in Albanian jails, the Muslim clergy imprisoned by the communist regime received little to no attention internationally regarding their plight apart from diaspora Albanian organisations.."In the Western press, Amnesty International, and other accounts on the horrors of the Albanian Gulag and religious persecution, there are many more mentions of Catholic and 'Greek' clergymen prisoners than Muslims who represent the overwhelming majority of the population. (Actually, I could find, after 1947, the name of only one imprisoned Muslim 'cleric' to whom I will return later.) The fact that Catholicism was considered by Hoxha, in the early period, as his main enemy is only one of the reasons. While Muslim leaders suffered probably as much as Christians their names were barely recorded by others than the Albanian emigrant organizations. Only the Muslim origin of certain detainees was referred to in a few Amnesty publications. The Western world has always been inclined to forget Muslim East Europeans. Religious persecution meant that of the Christians whose coreligionists in the free world could speak up for them. During those decades of oppression, even the Islamic world did little for its brothers tortured by Enver Hoxha." The Sunni Albanian community by 1949 under grand mufti Hafiz Musa Ali attempted to attain some measures and conditions from Enver Hoxha. Some of those included financial assistance, the exemption of future Muslim clergy doing army service which was supported while a translation of the Quran into Albanian was rejected.. "In June 1949 there was a meeting between Enver Hoxha and the leader of the Albanian Sunni Muslims – Hafis Musa Ali, who presented his requests to the Albanian government. The mufti's main postulates were to financial aid for the Muslim community, and to make those who wished in the future to become hodjas or mullahs exempt from military service. Hoxha reacted positively to the exemption of clergymen from military service, but did not support the idea of translating the Koran into Albanian, which the mufti requested." In 1950, the communist government implemented Act 743 that outlined measures for negotiating the status of the four religions in Albania. The Sunni Community at this time was run by the Main Council and its finances came from budget subsidiaries and property donations. As the Bektashi order of Albania was the worldwide headquarters of Bektashism, contact with outside communities linked to them were allowed by the communists though denied for other religions in Albania.. "Act 743 became the basis for negotiations concerning the legal status of religious communities. On May 4, 1950... On the same day, statutes concerning the Muslim communities were also approved. The highest power in the Sunni Muslim community was the Main Council, and the budget was to consist of income from property donations and budget subsidiaries. The statute also regulated the activity of the Community of Albanian Bektashi's (Komuniteti Bektashian I Shqipërisë). Since the leader of the community in Albania controlled the world community of Bektashi's, he obtained the right to maintain contact with communities active outside the country (other community leaders did not obtain such rights)." In 1955 Hafiz Suleyman Myrto became grand mufti of the Muslim community and from May 1966 to February 1967 Hafiz Esad Myftia was the last grand mufti of Albania of the communist era. After 1945, material wealth, institutional properties and land such as a Muslim vakëf (wakf) of the religious communities in Albania were confiscated by the state to limit the ability of the religious communities to be economically self-reliant... The madrasa at Tiranë was closed down in 1965. and many mosques had undergone a state of dilapidation due to meagre finances to repair them..
Muslim architectural heritage was perceived by Albanian communists to be an unwanted vestige of the Ottoman period used for converting Albanians into Muslims. In 1965 the communist regime initiated a cultural revolution based on the Chinese model that saw the wide scale destruction of most mosque minarets due to them being a prominent feature of Islamic architecture. By 1967 only 60 Bektashi tekkes were left functioning.. "Out of the 60 Bektashi temples (tekke) open before 1967, at the beginning of the 1990s only six were successfully reopened." Within the context of the communist regime's anti religion policies, from the 1960s onward parents were encouraged to give newborn children non-religious given names. These were considered proper Albanian names and often ascribed a supposedly "Illyrian" and pagan origin while given names associated with the Muslim or other religious traditions were strongly discouraged.. "One by-product of the regime's anti-religious policy was its concern with the question of people's Muslim and Christian names. Parents were actively discouraged from giving their children names that had any religious association or connotation. From time to time official lists were published with pagan, so called Illyrian or freshly minted names considered appropriate for the new breed of revolutionary Albanians.. "Since the late 1960s, newborn Albanians of any religion had to receive non-religious names, and Muslims here had to change their names to properly Albanian names." The communist Albanian political establishment approached Islam as the faith of the Ottoman "invader".. During communism numerous historians from Albania with nationalist perspectives (Ramadan Marmallaku, Kristo Frasheri, Skender Anamali, Stefanaq Pollo, Skender Rizaj and Arben Puto) intentionally emphasized "the Turkish savagery" and "heroic Christian resistance against" the Ottoman state in Albania. Few scholars that resisted those anti-Islamic and anti-Turkish propaganda trends were persecuted while the communist regime highlighted myths related to medieval Albanians by interpreting them as the "heroic Illyrian proletariat".
Secularization, iconoclasm and persecution (1967–1991)