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Rise of Conservative Islamists Alarms Kosovans
E shtune, 16.03.2013, 08:13 PM
Fissures in the Faith: Rise of Conservative Islamists Alarms Kosovans
Followers
of stricter forms of Islam are demanding more rights in Kosovo, provoking a
backlash among secularists.
By Arbana
Xharra
BIRN -
Pristina,
The
faithful who cannot fit inside the mosque sit down at its gates, along a
pavement carpeted with prayer rugs. The cleric’s amplified voice travels over
them, onto the street.
At Friday
prayers in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, the main mosque cannot contain the
worshippers, or the sound of the sermon they have come to hear.
“Allah’s
enemies are leading Muslim youth astray,” warns the cleric. He lists alcohol,
drugs and the pernicious influence of the internet as part of a concerted
effort “to stop the momentum of Islam”.
“Immorality
is on the rise,” he reminds his listeners. “This should not be tolerated. We
cannot close our eyes to this phenomenon.”
You need
not go far to see the hints of the immorality that the cleric decries. A short
walk from the mosque, young men and women mingle over coffee and beers in the
trendy bars of downtown Pristina.
Nearby
lie the new monuments that tell the story of Kosovo’s recent past. A large
bronze statue of Bill Clinton, hand raised in triumph or greeting, adorns a
boulevard that bears his name. The former American president is a hero here,
hailed for sending NATO jets into action against Serbian forces in 1999.
Another
nearby sculpture, a giant model of the English word, “newborn”, celebrates a
milestone in the process set in motion by those NATO air strikes – Kosovo’s
unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008.
Gratitude
to the
An
austere strain of Islam is attracting converts across Kosovo. Its rise is challenging
the traditions and aspirations of a society that has been defined less by its
Muslim faith than by its Albanian ethnicity and its pro-Americanism.
Unheard
of until 1999, the religious conservatives and hardliners are a tiny but
increasingly visible group, with followers in all the big cities and some of
the poorest parts of the countryside.
Security
officials told the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) that stricter
forms of the faith had taken root after the war, following the influx of
Islamic aid agencies and the schooling of local clerics in Arab countries.
Interviewed
on condition of anonymity, the officials said they believed as many as 50,000
people in the territory had begun following more conservative forms of Islam.
There is
no way of independently confirming this figure, which represents a tiny
fraction of the overall Muslim population of Kosovo, estimated at around 1.8
million people.
The rise
of the conservatives has alarmed secular Kosovans, as well as clerics of a more
moderate bent. However, the conservatives also complain that their opponents
all too readily – and wrongly – accuse them of links to violent extremists.
BIRN can
confirm that some clerics and converts have attracted the scrutiny of domestic
intelligence agencies. But it has seen no evidence to suggest that they
represent a threat to security.
‘European
standards’
The new
breed of religious conservatives say Kosovo’s secular constitution
discriminates against the pious. They have criticised laws that restrict the
emphasis on Islam in education.
They also
want the easing of restrictions on religious symbols in state schools, which
have prevented Muslim women and girls from wearing headscarves.
Conservative
clerics are demanding the right to practice their faith freely. Their followers
meanwhile say that they face discrimination in society at large, particularly
in the job market.
“After
the war, I started learning more about Islam,” says a young woman who was
wearing a headscarf on a bus in Pristina and refused to give her name.
“I
thought I am free from the Serbian regime and I can practise my religion
without fear of prejudice,” she says. “But people still stare at me just
because I wear a veil. It is hard for me to find a job or to apply for work in
a public role.”
However,
the conservatives’ complaints have unnerved many secular-minded women.
“I’m a
Muslim, as we have always been,” says Linda, a 27-year-old woman at a café in
downtown Pristina who only gave her first name. “But I don’t go to the mosque.
I’m really concerned about this new Islam that came in after the war.”
“We
didn’t see young men with beards and short trousers until then,” she says,
referring to the hairstyle and attire favoured by many converts to rigid forms
of the faith.
The
relationship between the state and the conservatives is characterised by
uncertainty and unease. Both sides have invoked international human rights
provisions – either as a defence for their position or as a hindrance against
action.
“If
someone claims we have religious freedom, it is not true,” says Shefqet
Krasniqi, the head cleric, or imam, at the main mosque in Pristina. “We are
asking for the same rights that Muslims in
Meanwhile,
the interior minister, Bajram Rexhepi, says concerns about human rights
hampered his attempts to curb the activities of suspected Islamist hardliners.
He told BIRN he tried to promote a law against “radical sects” during his term
as prime minister nine years ago.
But, he
says, he was dissuaded by the “internationals” – the officials in the United
Nations mission that helped administer Kosovo from 1999 to 2008.
“I asked
them if they would tolerate religious sects who endangered their state. They
replied that these were European standards.”
The UN
mission in Kosovo says there had been no requirement for such measures.
“Based on
a security assessment by the international community in Kosovo, at the time in
question there was no need to legislate against Muslim radical groups,” says
Olivier Salgado, a spokesman for the mission.
Behxhet
Shala, the head of Kosovo’s main human rights body, also says the risk of
extremism has been under-estimated by the United Nations and the EU, which are
gradually phasing out their role in the territory’s day-to-day affairs.
“The
internationals are here today, but they will go back. They are leaving us with
a ticking bomb,” Shala told BIRN. He says Kosovo’s poverty and porous borders
make it a fertile ground for radicalism.
However,
Jean-Francois Fitou, the French ambassador in Pristina, says these conditions
are not unique to Kosovo. He says all potential threats must be taken very
seriously. But, he added, the response must also be weighed against any
potential harm to individual liberties.
“It’s
complicated. It’s always a question of balance,” he told BIRN, noting that
Resisting
‘secularism’
The
collapse of socialist
Kosovo is
no exception. New mosques have been built across the territory, often financed
by donors from Islamic nations.
But as in
the rest of the region, nationalism has shaped the recent past more than
religion. Kosovo’s largely ethnic Albanian population often viewed itself as a
persecuted minority within Serb-dominated
In the
late 1990s, they overwhelmingly backed a guerrilla struggle against the Serbs.
The NATO intervention furthered that struggle’s aims, and convinced many ethnic
Albanian nationalists that their closest allies were in
Most
Kosovans are Muslims, and practise a relatively relaxed form of Islam, coloured
by Ottoman and mystical Sufi traditions. Many wish to see their territory as a
secular nation within the European Union, as envisaged in its constitution and
by its current government.
For those
who see no contradiction between their faith and their liberal values, the rise
of the religious hardliners has been unsettling.
“It’s a
shame that we have radicals among us because the majority of Kosovans don’t
support them,” says Luljeta Shala, an economist based in Pristina. “We are
pro-American, as everyone knows.”
The
hardliners appear to be more influenced by Arab interpretations of the faith,
than by the Ottoman traditions more common to Kosovo. They are often referred
to as Wahhabis, or Salafis, although most of them also reject these labels.
The terms
derive from Saudi Arabian sects that have become synonyms for puritanical
Islam. The hard-liners tend to describe themselves as defenders of the faith
who oppose the encroachment of “Western” secularism upon Kosovo.
Fuad
Ramiqi, a representative of the Bashkohu movement, says his group favours
public protests and non-violent resistance to highlight their demands. They
have complained about the ban on headscarves in schools, as well as the
prominence of Christian monuments in Pristina.
“We ask
the political class… to respect the rights of the Muslim majority in Kosovo,”
he told BIRN. “They are discriminating against the majority by trying to
present themselves as pro-Western.”
“It
cannot be a democratic state that imposes secularism upon me.”
Ramiqi
says he regards himself first and foremost as a Muslim, then as a Kosovan. He
fought in
Ramiqi is
sharply critical of Kosovo’s government, as well as the mainstream religious
establishment. However, he insists that his group rejects violence and is not a
threat to anyone.
“We are
careful because our enemies want to portray us as a destabilising factor in the
region,” he says. “There is absolutely no risk in giving people the freedom and
right to practice their religious beliefs.”
Secular
backlash
Several
conservative clerics have also spoken out against what they regard as the
strictures of a secular state, and the dangers of an irreligious society.
But they
too dismiss the suggestion that they are Wahhabis. Krasniqi, from the main
mosque in Pristina, says that he does not believe in any distinctions or
divisions between Muslims.
Nor does
he believe that violent extremists represent a threat in Kosovo. “Show me an
extremist, radical Wahhabi group,” he asks, rhetorically.
The
conservative message has won followers in impoverished and rural areas, even as
it has provoked a backlash among secular-minded Kosovans.
In 2010,
Ajnishahe Halimi, a women’s rights activist in the town of
Halimi’s
campaign attracted several thousand signatures, and the support of local
politicians. “I had information that village women were being misled, and a
non-traditional form of Islam was being taught,” she told BIRN.
Many
signatories to the petition were troubled by the imam’s actions, which –
although not illegal – were seen as an attempt to impose religious garb upon
young children.
The imam
in question, Kastriot Duka, was deported to his native
“The
residence permit is issued for the development of humanitarian activities and
not [for] other activities, which Mr Duka has exercised in the territory,” the
statement said. It is not clear if Duka’s expulsion was linked to the
complaints in the petition.
The
village where Duka had worked,
On a
visit to
Duka’s
work in
He said
headscarves had been offered to girls who were studying religion, but insisted
it had not been compulsory to wear them. “We created a beautiful environment,”
he says. “We gave uniforms for boys and veils for girls.”
Proselytising
is not illegal in Kosovo. Many of the charities that operate in the territory
have links to Christian or Muslim institutions, and openly incorporate a
religious element in their humanitarian work.
Conservative
Muslims across the region, however, complain that they are more likely to be
branded as extremists.
Bekir
Halimi, an ethnic Albanian imam, runs a shop and publishing house in
The raid
was originally reported in the local press as a strike against terrorism,
although Halimi had denied any link with violent radicals. The police later
returned the confiscated material. Halimi was never charged over any offence –
but, he says, the damage to his reputation has not been repaired.
“Nobody
reported on the news that we were not involved in radicalism,” he says. Halimi
believes the accusations against men such as himself are motivated by petty
rivalry, rather than any genuine fear of extremism.
‘No risk
of radicalism’
Some
critics of extremism also claim they have been assaulted, or had property
destroyed, because of their views. They accuse the Wahhabis of thuggery and
intimidation. But the exact motive for these attacks remains unclear.
The
incidents appear sporadic – three in the space of three years – and only one
has led to a successful prosecution.
Musli
Verbani, a former imam in the town of
Other
attacks against people who spoke out against extremism have not led to any
arrests. Xhabir Hamidi, a professor of Islamic studies at
Osman
Musliu, an imam from the town of
A senior
police official, asking not to be identified, says there was not enough
evidence to bring charges over the assaults on Hamidi and Musliu.
Musliu
and Verbani say they were disappointed by the response to the attacks from the
Islamic Community, the umbrella body that administers the mosques in Kosovo.
Both say the institution should have condemned the assaults on its members more
forcefully.
However,
Ahmed Sadria, a senior official from the community, dismisses the suggestion
the institution could have done more, arguing that this was the duty of the
police.
“It is
not true that we did not react over the beatings. We asked the authorities to
find out who did it,” he says. He adds that while the attacks were worrying,
the motives behind them remain unclear.
“We
cannot allow this to become a phenomenon,” he says, “but I cannot comment on
these cases without knowing the reasons [behind the attacks].”
Law
enforcement officials in Kosovo say they keep a close eye on Islamist
hardliners, and are alert to any potential threats to security.
“There
have been arrests, followed by investigations by the directorate of terrorism,”
says Shpend Maxhuni, the chief of police in Kosovo.
However,
there have not been any major convictions for terrorism. Most of the men
suspected of extremism have been charged over the illegal possession of weapons
– a widespread problem in the territory and a relatively minor offence.
Kosovan
security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, also told BIRN that
suspected extremists had been under surveillance at 30 of the 650 mosques in
the territory.
The
officials said they had investigated seven imams on suspicion of promoting
radicalism. However, no charges had been brought against any of the clerics.
Most of
the imams on the list, which has been seen by BIRN, work at mosques under the
control of the Islamic Community.
Sadria,
the senior official at the community, rejected any suggestion that mosques had
been infiltrated by dangerous radicals.
“I don’t
see any risk here and there is no need to emphasise this issue,” he told BIRN.
While
there has been no serious extremist violence in Kosovo, some experts believe
that the authorities should continue to listen closely to what the hardliners
are saying – even in the absence of any illegal activities.
“I would
say that hate speech and radical, extremist sermons can definitely lead to
violence,” says Usama Hasan, a senior researcher at the Quilliam Foundation, a
London-based think-tank that campaigns against extremism. Hasan cites cases
where British Muslims were reportedly radicalised through sermons.
However,
legislation in this area can often be cloudy, even in the
Back in
Pristina, the hardliners from Ramiqi’s Bashkohu movement continue to display
their animosity towards the authorities.
On
October 8 this year, the ceremony for laying the foundations for a new mosque
was briefly interrupted by a small group of men from the movement, wearing the
hardliners’ trademark beards and shin-length trousers.
The
activists whistled and chanted during a speech by the president, before being
led away by the police.
Arbana
Xharra is a Pristina-based journalist. This article was edited by Neil Arun. It
was produced as part of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence, an
initiative of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and ERSTE Foundation, in cooperation
with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.