A Preliminary Account o Research regarding the Albanian Bektashis

A Preliminary Account o Research regarding the Albanian Bektashis Myths And Unresolved Questions1
by Frank Kressing
published in : KASER, Karl; KRESSING, Frank (2002), Albania – A country in transition. Aspects of changing identities in a south-east European country. Baden-Baden,
pp. 65-92.
1. The Origins of the Bektashis
The Bektashis are generally considered to be one of the many heterodox branches of
Islam, being closely connected with the Alevis or Ali-orientated groups in Western
Asia, namely in Turkey (Kızılbaş2-Alevi), Syria (Alawites / Nusayri), Kurdestan, Lurestan (Ahl-e Haqq), and Azerbayjan including Nakhichevan.3 All of them refer to a
popular saint called Haji Bektash,4 the difference being ‘that you can adquire the status
of a Bektashi by your own will, but that you have to be born as an Alevi (to be part of
the community)‘, as one Turkish follower of the Bektashis once explained to me.5 Concerning further distinctions between the two groups, I would like to quote Mélikoff:6
‘The beliefs of the Kizilbas-Alevi are identical with those of the Bektashis. Both groups
refer to Haci Bektash. But the Bektashis formed an organized group, whereas the Kizilbas-Alevi, who lived in villages, remained more or less disorganized. The Bektashis follow an unchangeable ritual whereas the Kizilbas-Alevi believe in myths in which legends
are mingled with local folklore. The beliefs of both groups are syncretic. They contain
elements from different origins, belonging to religions with which the Turkic people have
1
2
3
4
5
6
I would like to thank all the members of the Alevi Culture Center (Alevi Kültür Derneği) in Ulm,
Germany, namely Pir Hüseyn Ruzgat, Hoja Emrullah Eraslan, Mr. Mahmut Savaşan and Mr. Muharrem Arras, for their warm welcome to their community and for providing most valuable information
and insights in Alevi / Bektashi lore and ritual, especially in the German diaspora, as well as Mimoza, Fatos, Arlind and Boris Dinollari, Vjollca Dede and Pluton Vasi in Tirana for their hospitality
and very valuable contribution to my research, and especially the members of the Bektashi Kryegjyshat in Tirana, first of all Kryegjysh Haxhi Dede Reshat Bardhi and Baba ‘Mondi‘ for their welcome
and willingness to answer my questions, and their tolerance towards my curiosity.
The term Kızılbaş (literally "red-head") is generally rejected by Alevis from Turkey, since they regard it to be pejorative. The term is derived from the fact that Ali and Sheikh Ismail are said to have
worn a red taç (headdress), consisting of twelve pieces, but is nowerdays often connected with a
"red" (meaning leftist) political orientation of Alevis in public discourse in Turkey.
Cf. Mélikoff, Bektachis et groupes relevant de Hadji Bektach 4, Bektashi/Kizilbas, 1-7; During, A
critical survey of Ahl-e Haqq studies in Europe and Iran, 105-126.
Or Haxhi Bektash in Albanian; cf. Mélikoff, Bektashi/Kizilbas, 1. For the convenience of the English-speaking reader and faciliated comprehensibility, most Turkish names and expressions appear in
an anglicised version, e.g. haji instead of haci, Bektashi instead of Bektaşi. This applies also to some
terms of Arabic origin, e.g. Nakshbandi (name of a dervish order or tarikat) is given instead of Nakşibendi (Turkish) or Naqshbandiyya (Arabic).
Personal communication, members of Alevi Kültür Derneği/Alevi Cultural Centre in Ulm, Germany;
cf. Mélikoff, Bektashi/Kizilbas, 5: ‘Anyone can become a Bektashi if he wishes to and if he is found
to be worthy. But one cannot become an Alevi if one is not born an Alevi.‘
Mélikoff, Bektashi/Kizilbas, 6-7.
65
ben in contact: Buddhism,, Manicheism, Nestorian or local Christianity ... Fuat Köprülü
called the Alevi 'county Bektashis' because they present themselves a rough form of the
same phenomenom ... Though Bektashis and Alevis go back to the same origin, they have
formed two parallel groups. These groups have been subjected to different ethnical influences: the Bektashis were influenced by the Balkans, the Alevi by the people of eastern
Anatolia: Iranians, Kurds and others.‘
Shortly after their emergence in Anatolia in the 13th century,7 the Bektashis established
themselves as one of the most influential dervish orders during the Ottoman period,8
their main places of distribution being - apart from Anatolia - the Balkans and Crete.9
Especially in the 14th and 15th centuries, the Bektashis were closely connected with the
Janissary troops.10 Hasluck even refers to a legend claiming that Haji Bektash himself
inaugurated the first Janissary troops during the reign of Sultan Orhan.11 According to
Mélikoff,12
‘... the first Ottomans owed their military success to the stimulation of martial mysticism.
War and religion combined together. The dervishes became gazis [military leaders] and
the Janissaries were connected to the Bektashis. But things were to change during the
16th century with the Ottoman-Safavid wars.‘
After repeated revolts and rebellions, the Janissary troops were finally dismissed in
1826, with resisting forces being massacred.13 This meant that also the Bektashis were
subject to state supression and had to move to the margins of the Empire.14A hundred
years later, the Bektashi tarikat was again subject to state prosecution, and was officially abolished altogether with the other dervish orders in the newly founded Turkish
15
Republic. Mélikoff summarises Bektashi history in the late Ottoman Empire as follows:
‘In later Ottoman history, Bektashism has become synonymous with non-conformism in
matters of religion. During the 19th century, after the collapse of the Janissaries in 1826
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
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Ibid., 2. According to Haas, Die Bektaşi, 9, the Bektashis were founded in the 13th century during the
times of the collapse of the Seljuk dynasty in Anatolia, when political power had passed to the Mongol invaders.
Frembgen, Derwische, gelebter Sufismus, 52.,
Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 35.
Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes; Frembgen, Derwische, gelebter Sufismus, 59; Haas, Die
Bektaşi; Jacob, Beiträge zur Kenntnis des Derwisch-Ordens der Bektaschi; Köprülü, Les origins deu
Bektachisme, The Origins of the Ottoman Empire, The Seljuks in Anatolia, Islam in Anatolia after
the Turkish Invasion.
Hasluck, The non-conformist Moslems of Albania, 388.
Mélikoff, Bektashi/Kizilbas, 8.
These events took place during the reign of Sultan Mahmut II. Bektashi adherents were murdered,
their sacred books burned, their graves and 16 tekkes (dergâh) destroyed. A mosque was rected in
Hacibektaşköy, the order's centre in Cappadocia, Anatolia, Savaşan, personal communication.
Bartl, Kryptro-Christentum und Formen des religiösen Synkretismus in Albanien, 100; Jacob, Beiträge zur Kenntnis des Derwisch-Ordens der Bektaschi, 8; Kissling, Die islamischen Derwischorden;
Stadtmüller, Der Derwischorden der Bektaschi in Albanien.
Cf. Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 225; Gashi/Steiner, Albanien, 76; Vorhoff, Academic and
journalistic publications on the Alevi and Bektashis of Turkey, 24. Vorhoff speaks about the ‘abolition of the Bektashi order in 1826, the suppression of all tarikat activity in 1925, and the closing of
all the mystic orders (tarikat) and the tombs of the holy men (türbe) in 1925‘.
and the closure of the tekkes, the non-conformist Bektashis became free-thinkers and later
16
on, in the 20th century, progressivists ... They also joined the Young Turks.‘
2. Elements of Bektashi Lore and Doctrine
In this chapter I will not give an overview about Bektashism as a religion (which would
under any circumstances be incomplete), but will rather confine myself to an enumeration of a very few characteristic features which distinguish Bektashism from other
branches of Islam. The Bektashi order belongs to the many Sufi movements in Islam
that developed from the 8th century onwards.17 The tarikat established itself in Anatolia
during the 14th and 15th century18 and bears a Shi'a and pantheistic character,19 but has
also many other, heterogenous origins. Shi'a influence on the Bektashis may even be a
relatively late development of the 15th and 16th centuries,20 but is nonetheless manifested
in the belief in twelve Imams and special worship of the sixth Imam Jafr Sadiq21 as well
as in the celebration of Ali's birthday on the Iranian New Year's feast (newruz)22 and the
celebration of muharram (the 'ashura lament).23 Ali's sons Hasan and Huseyn are also
highly venerated as martyrs. Usually three days of fasting are observed in ramadan,
compared to ten days during the Shi'a commemoration month of muharram.24 As another Shi'a tradition, the Bektashis incorporated hurufilîk, a secret lore of letter and
number symbolism (comparable to the Jewish Kabbala) that can be traced to Fazlullah
Hurufi (1339-1401) from northern Iran.25
The name of the dervish order is derived from their legendary founder Haji Bektash
Veli, living in Asia Minor in the second half of the 13th century and originally coming
from Khorassan26 - a term often used in ancient chronicles and hagiographies to refer to
16 Mélikoff, Bektashi/Kizilbas, 7. Bartl, Die albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung, 110, 153-154, also stresses the connection between Bektashis and the Young Turks
and the important role which Albanians played in the uprisings of 1903 and in the revolution of
1908.
17 Cf. Frembgen, Derwische, gelebter Sufismus, 48; El-Kayati, Der ägyptische Sufi-Orden Al-Qâyâtîyya, 11, 12.
18 Frembgen, ibid., 52.
19 Bartl, Religionsgemeinschaften und Kirchen, 594-595; Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, 213;
Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches 153; Fremdgen, Derwische, gelebter Sufismus 52.
20 Faroqhi Faroqhi, Suraiya, The Bektashis 1995:26; Kehl-Bodrogi, Die Kizilbas/Aleviten.
21 Clayer , L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 80.
22 Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, 219-231. In Albania, newruz is celebrated on the same date
as the official ‘Day of Democracy‘ on March 22nd, cf. Lakshman-Lepain, Religions between tradition and pluralism, 10; Popovic, La communauté musulmane d'Albanie dans la période postottomane, 72.
23 The commemoration of Ali's death, cf. Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, 172-173, 213.
24 Ibid., 79, 99-102.
25 Algar, The Hurufi influence on Bektashism, 39-53; Birge, the Bektashi order of Dervishes, 94; Clayer, L'Albanie, pays des derviches, 80; Fremdgen, Derwische, gelebter Sufismus, 52; Jacob, Beiträge
zur Kenntnis des Derwisch-Ordens der Bektaschi, 32; Haas, Die Bektaşi, 150.
26 Or Bukhara, cf. Frembgen, Derwische, gelebter Sufismus, 52. In the present days, Khorassan is the
border region between Iran and Afghanistan, Bukhara is situated in presently Uzbekistan.
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the migration of Turkoman tribes to Anatolia from the 11th until the 13th centuries.27 As
in many other cases concerning Sufi hagiography, he probably was not the actual founder of the order but a patron saint chosen at a later date.28
Especially in Middle Asia, the region of origin of the Turkoman tribes and the followers
of Haji Bektash Veli, Sufism mingled with local, pre-Islamic beliefs.29 Thus, it is not
surprising that besides Shi'a and different Sufi doctrines, many different religious traditions contributed to the development and appearance of Bektashism, leading Popovic to
the claim that ‘on peut donc dire que le caractère fondamental du bektachisme est son
syncretisme‘.30 According to Birge, the Bektashis ‘... combined in this order a considerable number of both doctrines and practices that show the influence of various types of
Christian, Islamic, Greek and pagan thought‘, thereby preserving pre-Islamic and nonIslamic thoughts originating in Christianity and antique religions as well as ancient
Turkic elements, such as the participation of women in all major rituals and ritual significance of alcohol, just as among Turko-Mongols in pre-Islamic times.31 Thus, remants of the ancient Turkic religion could be preserved until the present day in tales,
legends, customs, magical practices and techniques of ecstasy among the Bektashis.32
Other origins of Bektashism are to be found in Manichaeism,33 Zoroastrism, Mazdaism,
Judaism and presumably even in Buddhism.34 Ocak stresses the prevailing syncretism
between ancient, pre-Islamic Turkic and Islamic elements in Bektashi lore, putting his
emphasis on the encounter of pre-Islamic Turks with ‘high religions‘ in Central Asia
and the position of the Bektashis at the crossroads of different cultures. Concerning the
question of shamanic remainders among the Bektashis,he claims that their importance is
27 Mélikoff, Bektashi/Kizilbas, 1, points out that ‘Coming from Khorassan is a cliché ... [meaning] that
the people involved were not autochtones, but immigrants.‘ Whether Bektash Veli, who ‘came to
Anatolia towards the year 1230, [and]... died, according to tradition, in 1270‘ (ibid.) ever actually
went on pilgrimage (haj) to Mecca, remains doubtful; cf. Eliade, Encyclopedia of Religion 14, 120;
Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, 36.
28 Frembgen, Derwische, gelebter Sufismus, 52; cf. Hasluck, Christianity and Islam under the Sultans,
488-493, who claims a merely nominal connexion of the Bektashi sect with Haji Bektash and denies
the conection of Haji Bektash with the Ottoman dynasty (with reference to Aşıkpaşazade Aşıkpaşazade, Tevarihi Âl-i Osman, 237-239). According to Hasluck, Hacibektaşköy near Kirşehir had been
more or less absorbed by the Hurufi sect, and the historical Haji Bektash was only a clan founder and
ancestor of a Turkoman tribe. Apparently, even a tradition exists that Haji Bektash was a Christian.
29 Demidov, Sufismus in Turkmenien, 73.
30 Popovic , La communauté musulmane d'Albanie dans la période post-ottomane, 5.
31 Birge, the Bektashi Order of Dervishes, 22; Kissling, Zur Frage der Anfänge des Bektaschitums in
Albanien, 1, 5 f., Über die Anfänge des Bektaschitums in Albanien, 3, 9; Müller, Kulturhistorische
Studien zur Genese pseudo-islamischer Sektengebilde in Vorderasien IX, 35-51; Schimmel, Mystische Dimensionen des Islam, 478 ff., Sufismus und Volksfrömmigkeit, 194-196; Fremdgen, Derwische, gelebter Sufismus, 58; Kehl-Bodrogi, Die Kizilbas/Aleviten, 225-228; Esin, Thémes et symboles communes entre le Bouddhisme tántrique et la tradition des Bekatchis ottoman, 31-37.
32 Original quote: ‘Rudimente der alt-türkischen Religion sind bis zur Gegenwart in Märchen, Legenden, Brauchtum, magischen Praktiken und Ekstasetechniken erhalten geblieben‘, cf. Haas, Die Bektaşi, 50.
33 Ibid, 135-136, 150; Faroqhi, The Bektashis, 26.
34 Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, 217-218; Savaşan, personal communication.
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far less than usually assumed and that even Birge ‘... did not regard shamanic survivals
as particularly significant, devoting only a single page to the matter.‘35
Haas claims that the Bektashis preserved many traits of oppositional movements, heretic groups, pre-Islamic beliefs and customs and shaped them into a synthesis during
times of a mutual penetration of Turkic and Byzantine.36 There is ample evidence for
the participation of Haji Bektash himself and his adherents in the Turkoman uprisings
against Seljuk rule in 1240 (the so-called Baba'î revolt under the leadership of Baba
Ishaq and Baba Ilyas;),37 in which his brother Mintash was killed.38 Besides that, the
craftsmen's guilds (ahilik) of Seljuk and early Ottoman Anatolia considerably contributed to the organisation of the order.39
In their worship and veneration of saints, the Bektashis combine Christian and preChristian elements, with Haji Bektash Veli being regarded as a reincarnation of Saint
Chorolambos.40 There are many examples for the mutual identification of Christian and
Bektashi saints (e.g. Saint Athanasios with Hafiz Halil Baba in Romania).41 Christian
influences on Bektashism are expressed in the celebration of the Holy Communion,42
and the conception of Ali, Muhammad and Allah as a Holy Trinity.43
The order has a hierachical structure consisting of the grades of ashik, talip or muhip
(novice), dervish, baba or murshit, and halife or dede.44 The murshit45 occupies a primary position as a spiritual teacher (comparable to a guru) und master of initiations.46
The spiritual authority of the murshit is further enhanced by legendary lineages of tradition (silsile) which served to pass on secret knowledge.47 The secret lore includes the
idea of four gateways (in Turkish: dört kapı) on the spritual path, consisting of şeriat
(law), tarikat (the way or path), marifet (knowledge), and hakikat (honesty).48 Due to
the esoteric character of the Bektashi order, main ceremonies like nasıp ayını (initiation)
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
Ocak, Bektaşi menakibnamelerinde Islam öncesi inanç motifleri, 10-11, 24-26.
Haas, Die Bektaşi, 7-9, cf. Birge, The The Bektashi Order of Dervishes.
Haas, Die Bektaşi 1987:12-15.
Mélikoff, Bektashi / Kizilbas, 2.
Frembgen; Derwische, gelebter Sufismus 1993:24; Haas, Die Bektaşi 1987:19-20, 135-136, 150.
Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, 99, 217.
Cf. Hasluck, Christianity and Islam under the Sultans, 523.
Jacob, Beiträge zur Kenntnis des Derwisch-Ordens der Bektaschi, 23-25. This assumption has in
recent times been questioned by Kehl-Bodrogi, Die Kizilbas/Aleviten, 236-238, who claims that no
trace of the Holy Communion is to be found in Bektashism, and that instead the use of alcohol in
their ritual can be derived from identical,widespread customs among the Turkic peoples of central
and northern Asia.
Haas, Die Bektaşi, 65, 101. To a certain extend a unity between Muhamad and Ali is conceived as
well; cf. Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, 132-133; Clayer; L’Albanie, pays des derviches,
58; Kehl-Bodrogi, Die Kizilbas/Aleviten.
Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, 162-166.
Turkish mürşit.
Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, 96-101.
Haas, Die Bektaşi, 124).
Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, 102-105; Haas, Die Bektaşi, 122; Kehl-Bodrogi, Die Kizilbas/Aleviten, 151-156; Shankland, Anthropology and ethnicity, 20.
69
and batın namazı49 (inner, silent prayer) have until now very seldom been made accessable to the public.50
Both the ethical values of Alevis and Bektashis are expressed in the popular saying
‘eline, beline, diline sahip olsun!‘ (be the master of your hand, your loins [in the sense
of one's private parts], and your tongue),51 meaning that you should not harm other humans, not indulge in adultery, and not lie.
There is a wide variety of religious doctrines within the Bektashi order as a ‘belief that
has appeared in many manifestations‘.52 Bektashi doctrines are often shared with other
Sufi orders, and multiple membership is, or at least used to be, widespread.53 In historical times, most of the Bektashi adherents lived in western Anatolia and in the Balkans,
but the Bektashiyya could also be found in Egypt, Iran, and even in Eastern Turkestan.54
Within Ottoman dervish poetics (tekke edebiyatı), the Bektashis are represented with
very popular poems which are written in an easy style of stanzas. Besides Yunus Emre
who died in 1320/21, Pir Sultan Abdal, who lived in the 16th century, is generally regarded as one of their most famous poets. Generally, the indifference of the Bektashis
towards the official rules of Islam makes them an object of strong suspicion in their
Muslim environment,55 though most Bektashis claim to orientate themselves to the
hadith.56
3. How did the Bektashis come to the Balkans?
Until 1912, Bektashism was widespread in the Balkan provinces of the Ottoman Empire
and beyond: apart from the Albanian-inhabited areas (including Kosova/o and western
Macedonia), Bektashi tekkes57 are known from a number of other southeast European
countries and regions, for instance from Thracia, Dobruja (Romania),58and Bosnia.59
49 Rather a Turkoman than a Turkish expression, Savaşan, personal communication 2000.
50 Haas, Die Bektaşi, 124. As Shankland, Anthropology and ethnicity, 15, points out, meanwhile these
attitudes seemed to have changed, and there is a general shift towards more openness in revealing
Bektashi sırrılar (secrets of the Bektashis) to the public (cf. Vorhoff, Academic and journalistic publications on the Alevi and Bektashi of Turkey). This is in accord with my own experience in interviewing members of the local Alevi-Bektashi community in Ulm, Germany, from 1996 until 2001.
Vorhoff (ibid., 23) writes that meanwhile ‘Alevi and Bektashi started to reflect openly on the doctrines and ritual practices of their once esoteric religion - a transgression that would in former times
have incurred the penalty of exclusion from the community.‘
51 Haas, Die Bektaşi 1987:134, 135
52 Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, 87.
53 Ibid., 96; Haas, Die Bektaşi, 27.
54 Frembgen, Derwische, gelebter Sufismus, 52.
55 Cf. Kehl-Bodrogi, Die Kizilbas/Aleviten.
56 Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 77.
57 Teqe is the Albanian form, tekke the Turkish one. In the following chapters I will use teqe when
exclusively refering to Albanian dervish convents, and tekke when referring to Bektashis in a broader
context of the Balkans (or the former Ottoman Empire). - Many Turkish-speaking adherents of Bektashism prefer the term dergâh, but tekke is by now already well established in the scientific literature covering this subject.
58 Cf. Zarconne, Nouvelles perspectives dans les recherches sur les kizilbas-Alévis et les bektachis de
la Dobroudja, de Deli Orman et de la Thrace orientale.
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Following the loss of most of the Turkish Balkan provinces in 1912 and the subsequent,
partly forced migration of large portions of the Turkish population to Thracia and Anatolia, Islamic mysticism was largely confined to Albania and the neighbouring Albanian-inhabited areas.60 Thus, Albania until 1967 was also a ‘land of dervishes‘.61 How
did Islam originally spread to these regions?
During the 16th century, the territory of the present Albanian state was finally and definitely subjugated to Ottoman rule and incorporated into the Ottoman Empire62 after the
fierce resistance led by the the military leader Gjergj Kastrioti ‘Skanderbeg‘ had finally
been broken.63 At that time, the Albanians were - at least officially - either Roman
Catholics (in the north) or Orthodox (in the southern parts of the Albanian-inhabited
areas). Muslims in Albania cannot be traced back before the year 1423,64 and it lasted
until the 17th and 18th century, before the majority of Albanians converted to Islam and
embraced the new faith65 - the reason behind that being perhaps pure opportunism, as
many travellers of the 19th century pointed out, and a special relationship to religiousity
in general (cf. chapter 4).66
According to Bartl, in 1610 only 10% of the Albanian population were Muslims.67 Cornell points out that ‘Albania 'seems to have been Islamized as a matter of deliberate Ottoman policy to help suppress resistance after the Turkish-Venetian war in the seventeenth century‘.68
59 Cf. Cornell Cornell, Erik, On Bektashism in Bosnia, 9-13; Ilic, Der Bektaschi-Orden in Bosnien und
sein Beitrag zur Osmanischen Literatur; Šamic, Traditions et moers des Derviches de Bosnie; Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 1: "Les ordres mystiques musulmans ètaient toujours une realité
omnipresente dans ce pays aprés 1912".
60 Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches. One centre of the Bektashis in the Balkans before 1912 had
been the tekke/teqe of Kalkandelen near Tetova (Tetovo) in contemporary Macedonia (Popovic, La
communauté musulmane d'Albanie dans la période post-otto-mane, 153). Concerning Bosnia, the existence of Sufi groups after the country's incorporation into the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1967
remains a matter of debate, cf. Cornell, On Bektashism in Bosnia, 13: ‘The picture of a more or less
total non-existence of Bektashism in Bosnia is not convincing, given the favourable climate for its
acceptance in earlier days as well as the attitudes of contemporary Bosnians‘.
61 Ibid., 10.
62 Malcom, Kosovo – A Short History, 106.
63 Bartl, die Albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung, 16, 17; Frashëri,
The History of Albania, 66-89.
64 Popovic, La communauté musulmane d'Albanie dans la période post-ottomane, 7.
65 Ibid., 151.
66 Cf. Hahn, Albanesische Studien; Braun, Albanien, 101: ‘Schon Reisende des letzten Jahrhunderts,
allen voran der berühmte Albanologe Hahn, schildern die Albaner als von bemerkenswert oberflächlicher Religiösität. Der Glaube wurde gewechselt, wie es gerade politisch opportun erschien, Gottesdienste seien eher ein feiertäglicher Treffpunkt der Gemeinde mit Schwatz und Tratsch als weihevolles Geschehen.‘
Author's translation: Already travellers of the last century, especially the famous Albanologist Hahn,
depicted Albanians as showing remarkable superficial religious feelings. People's faith changed according to political opportunism, and religious services turned into recreational events for small talk
and gossip rather than serious worship. - Compare also the popular saying ‘The religion of the Albanian is Albanianism‘ usually ascribed to Pashko Vasa Shkodrani, cf. Gashi/Steiner, Albanien, 101,
and the general image of Albanians as treating religion loosely, cf. Mélikoff, Bektashi/Kizilbas.
67 Bartl, Die albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung, 18.
68 Cornell, On Bektashism in Bosnia 9; with reference to Malcolm, Kosovo – Ashort History, 57. In
this respect, it has also be taken into account that a ‘distinction between Islamization and Ottomani71
Besides Sunni Islam, mystical forms of Islam spread in the country, directed at an individual, direct experience of the presence of God and thereby also deliberately making
use of altered states of consciousness (ASC),69 such as sema (ecstatic dance) and zikr
recitation.70 One of them was the order (tarikat) of the Bektashis. From later developments of Bektashism unter Ottoman reign (cf. chapter 1, above) it becomes obvious that
Albania often served as a kind of exile for the adherents of the Bektashi faith, although
the origin of the Bektashis in Albania remains quite obscure.71 Reliable sources indicate
that their emergence cannot be dated earlier than the turn of 16th to the 17th centuries,72
also taking into account the rather late Islamisation of the Albanian population (see
above). According to legends and other, rather hagiographic sources though, Bektashis
were already present in Albania during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Murat II (14211451).73 Dauer et al. refer to the legendary founding of a dervish convent in Albania as
early as 1491, but it is not clear whether this convent belonged to the Bektashis or not.74
Other sources indicate the presence of Bektashi dervishes under their ‘prophet‘ Sari
Salltik in Dobruja as early as the 13th century.75 According to Bartl, adherents of the
Safavids and other heretics were deported from Anatolia to Rumelia76 in the 16th century
and integrated into the Bektashi order thus laying ground for the presence of Shi'a Islamic elements in southeast Europe.77
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
72
sation‘ exists, cf. Young, Religion and society in present-day Albania, 7; Norris, Islam in the Baklkans; Malcolm, Kosova – A Short History.
Cf. Bourguignon, Trance and shamanism.
Dauer, Kaleshi, Pllana & Kissling , Baba Kâzim, Oberhaupt der Bektâshi-Derwische in Djakovica,
7; Frembgen, Derwische, gelebter Sufismus, 196. They were also using juniper smoke for ecstatic rituals (cf. Mélikoff, Bektashi/Kizilbas; Haas, Die Bektaşi, 127), a feature that resembles very much
central Asian cultural traits (cf. Schenk, Schamanen vom Dach der Welt; Sidky, Shamans and mountain spirits in Hunza). The prevailance of ectastatic rituals in Sufi congregations often lead to the assumption of shamanic origins or at least influences towards mystical Islam; cf. Birge, he Bektashi
Order of Dervishes; Haas, Die Bektaşi; Ocak, Bektaşi menakibnamelerinde Islam öncesi inanç motifleri.
Cf. Kissling, Zur Frage der Anfänge des Bektaschitums in Albanien, 281.
Ibid, 283; Stadtmüller, Der Derwischorden der Bektaschi in Albanien.
Kissling, Zur Frage der Anfänge des Bektaschitums in Albanien, 282.
Dauer et al., Baba Kâzim, Oberhaupt der Bektâshi-Derwische in Djakovica, 9.
Cf. Barkan Istiklâl devirlerin kolonizatör Türk dervişleri ve zâviyeler; Bartl, Die albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung, 106; Haas, Die Bektaşi, 35-36; Zarconne,
Nouvelles perspectives dans les recherches sur les kizilbas-Alévis et les bektachis de la Dobroudja,
de Deli Orman et de la Thrace orientale, 2. The later stresses the general importance of the region of
(present-day) southern Rumania, northeast Bulgaria and the coast of the Black Sea for the spread of
heterodox dervish movements in the Balkans. For an account of the cult of Sari Saltik (also written
Sary Salltyk or Salltuk, Turkish: Sarı Saltık), especially in Kruja, see Kiel, A note on the date of the
establishment of the Bektashi order in Albania.
Bartl, Die albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung; Kiel, A note on
the date of the establishment of the Bektashi order in Albania, 104. ‘Rumelia’ designated the eastern
parts of the Balkans under Ottoman rule, comprising of nowerdays Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Thracia.
Cf. Faroqhi, The Bektashis, 13. Concerning the connections between the Alevis-Kizilbas on one
hand and the Safavid movement on the other hand, as well the later development of the Safavids into
adherents of the Shi'a, a precise account is given in Kehl-Bodrogi, Kizilbas/Aleviten, 42-47.
Bartl also claims that the second Bektashi Pir Balim Sultan was crucial in propagating
the faith in Albania in the beginning of the 16th century;78 other sources speak of a Bektashi tekke that was founded by a Tatar missionary from the Crimean peninsula in
1630.79
Historical fact points to a large migration of Bektashi adherents to Albania taking place
in 1644 when one of the order's major tekke was destroyed in Hizirlik near Adrianople
(present-day Edirne), 80and that in the 17th century a Bektashi teqe existed in Kanina.81
At least it appears to be quite secure that the Bektashis were present in Albania long
before the times of Ali Pasha of Tepelena (1741-1822) who is generally held responsible for propagating the Bektashi faith in the Albanian-inhabited areas of the Balkans.82
The presumably close relationship between Ali Pasha and the Bektashi order was apparently deliberately used as a means of propaganda, often having been exagerated and
constituting one of the many myths surrounding the Bektashis. 83
According to Clayer, in the 19th century the, various dervish orders in Albania had
around 200 teqet. Besides the Bektashis, the Halvetis with their different subdivisions
(Gülshen, Karabash, Hayati, Akbashi), and in Ottoman times also Çelvetis, Sinanis,
Bayramis, Mevlevis, Melamis, and Nakshbendis were present.84 The Bektashi teqet
were mostly situated outside of the towns, an exception being the teqe of Kruja. Thus,
the order generally had a rural character 85 with most of the Bektashi dervishes having
their roots in the local peasantry.86
4. The unique Situation of Religion in Albania
In several instances, in Albania religion plays a unique role compared to the rest of Europe: not only that Albania was (before the independence of Bosnia-Hercegovina) the
only European state with a Muslim majority,87 Albania was also known as the only
country worldwide where atheism was declared a compulsory state doctrine in 1967.88
But the resulting prosecution of all religious congregations and the oppression of religi78 Bartl, Die albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung, 100, 106; Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 35.
79 Bartl, die Albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung, 390.
80 Cf. Jacob, Beiträge zur Kenntnis des Derwisch-Ordens der Bektaschi, 15-16; Kiel, A note on the
date of the establishment of the Bektashi order in Albania, 270; Kissling, Zur Frage der Anfänge des
Bektaschitums in Albanien, 104-105.
81 Refered to by the traveller Evliya Çelebi, cf. Kissling, Zur Frage der Anfänge des Bektaschitums in
Albanien, 282; Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 36.
82 Vickers, The Albanians. A Modern History.
83 Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 36, personal communication 1999.
84 Ibid., 10-15.
85 Ibid., 20-21.
86 Cf. Frembgen, Derwische, gelebter Sufismus, 48.
87 ‘La situation albanaise est en effect exceptionelle en Europe: c'est le seul Etat dans la majorité de la
population s'est converté à l'Islam‘, Popovic , La communauté musulmane d'Albanie dans la période
post-ottomane, 201.
88 Bartl, Religionsgemeinschaften und Kirchen, 608 ff.
73
ous activities is not the only remarkable (and tragic) fact about religious life in Albania.
Unlike any other nation in Southeast Europe, Albanians traditionally did not adhere to a
single faith, and even Islam did not seem to be very deeply rooted until the 19th century:
’Albanien ist, wie bekannt, von den Türken niemals so tief durchkolonisiert worden, daß
der rechtgläubige Islam sich als ausschließlicher Glaube hätte durchsetzen können ... der
albanische Kryptochristianismus war noch tief bis in das 19. Jahrhundert hinein vorhanden.’89
Generally, in southeastern Europe ethnicity is closely linked to the adherence to a specific religion: Serbs, Bulgarians, Greeks and Romanians are Orthodox, Slovenians, Croats
and Hungarians are Roman Catholics, Bosnians, Pomaks, and Turks are Muslims.90
Among Albanians, as an exception from this rule, four different confessions prevailed:
Catholicism in the north, Orthodoxy in the south, Sunni Islam in the central and eastern
parts of the Albanian inhabited areas, and Bektashism in the south. Due to missionary
efforts by Western and Middle Eastern congregations alike, even nowadays loyalty to
one specific religion in Albania is fluid and might be divided: it is, for example, not
uncommon that a contemporary Albanian might declare him- or herself to be a ’Protestant Muslim’ if he or she has converted to one of the several Protestant congregations
being engaged in missionary work in the country. As Young points out, ‘... people in
modern-day Albania attend religious ceremonies regardless of which faith they belong
to, as a form of social gathering.’91
Besides the somewhat diversive and fluid character of religion in Albania in general, all
available sources92 indicate that traits of the autochthonous folk religion have been preserved in the Albanian-inhabited areas to a much greater extent than in other regions of
Europe, thereby contesting the fixed adherence to one specific type of region. As examples I would like to refer to the feast of patron saints 93and ancestor worship to be
found on the northern Albanian Dukagjin Plateau.94 Furthermore, there is general
agreement about the fact that religion in Albania tends to be syncrestictic: Many traits of
Christianity survived among Muslim converts in form of the so called CryptoChristianity,95
89 Kissling, Über die Anfänge des Bektashitums in Albanien, 285-286. Author's translation: As it is a
well known fact, Albania has never been colonised by the Turks to such an extent that the orthodoc
Islam could have constituted the only religion of the country ... Albanian cryptochristianity did exist
well until the 19th century.
90 Cf. Cornell, On Bektashism in Bosnia, 9.
91 Young, Religion and society in present-day Albania, 6.
92 E.g. Bartl, Die albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung, 106, Religionsgemeinschaften und Kirchen; Çabej, Albanische Volkskunde, 333-387; Lakshman-Lepain, Religions between tradition and pluralism, The Bektashis, the Halvetis and the Baha'is; Prifti, The current situation of religion in Albania; Vlora, Aus Berat und vom Tomor.
93 Çabej, Albanische Volkskunde, 349, 350.
94 Cf. Eberhardt & Kaser, Albanien - Stammesleben zwischen Tradition und Moderne.
95 ‘Crypto-Christianity‘means shifting the original religion underground, describing a situation where
the population overtly adheres to Islam, but still practises Christianity in secret, cf. Bartl, Kryptochristentum und Formen des religiösen Synktretismus in Albanien. - Similiar bi-religious settings are,
74
‘In many placed during Ottoman rule, people took two names: a Muslim one to avoid capitation tax and to be eligible to undertake government positions, an a Christian one to
avoid having to serve in the Ottoman army (Skendi, 1980: 246-247). Skendi discusses
'Crypto-Christrianity' whereby 'individuals or groupswho, while publicly professing Islam, satisfied their conscience by proclaiming Christianity (Orthodox or Catholic) in pri96
vate.‘
Thus, it is little surprising that a typical feature of the ’religious landscape’ in Albania
seemed to have been the people called larame, literally ’the spotted ones’ or ’the coloured ones’, referring to the fact that many Albanians adhered to more than one confession
at the same time.97
Furthermore, it is usually assumed that Christianity was not deply rooted among the
population,98 which of course also faciliated conversion to Islam. There are numerous
accounts of Christians and Muslims visiting the sacred sites of each others' congregation, and about the exchange of amulets.99 Among the followers of Islam as well as among the Christian Albanians, many autochthonous religious concepts persisted:
’... Das enge Nebeneinander von Christentum und Islam erzeugte hier [in Albanien] einen
Synkretismus, der für die meisten erst in jüngerer Zeit islamisierten Länder charakteristisch ist; hinzu kommt noch der starke Einfluß der albanischen Derwischorden, insbesondere der Bektasiye [sic!], der auch seinerseits dazu beitrug, die religiösen Unterschiede
100
im Volk verschwimmen zu lassen.’
Therefore it might be assumed that a common, folk religious substratum exists for all
four religions in Albania,101 and that a typical Albanian form of religiousity developed.
As Antonia Young points out, ‘... it is in fact remarkable that religious differences, the
basis of so much antagonism and violence in all parts of the world, has not been a cause
of conflict in Albania.‘102
Taking into account this general religious climate, the Bektashis deserve special attention because of the pantheistic and unorthodox character of their faith (which had already
developed in their Asian regions of orgin, see chapter 2). Acceptance of Bektashism in
Albania was largely faciliated by the fact that Bektashi syncretism combined elements
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
for example, to befound among the Pueblo Indians in present-day southwestern United States, labelled with the term compartamentalización which refers to the shift of the orginal religion in ‘underground settings‘, in this case to be taken literally since the respective Native religion is practises in
subteran chambers called kiva.
Cf. Young, Religion and society in present-day Albania, 7, with reference to Skendi, Balkan Cultural
Studies, 236.
Bartl, Kryptochristentum und Formen des religiösen Synktretismus in Albanien, 119.
Ibid., 21.
Bartl, Die albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung , 92.
Bartl, ibid., 9. Author's translation: The close relationship between Christianity and Islam created an
syncretism [in Albania] which is typical for most of the countries which accepted Islam in recent times. Additionally, the strong influence of dervish orders, particularly the Bektasiye [sic!], contributed to a merger of religious distinctions among the average population.
Cf. Lakshman-Lepain, Religions between tradition and pluralism.
Young, Religion and society in present-day Albania, 5.
75
of Shi'a Islam and folk religion with Christian elements, for example belief in the Holy
Trinity, confession of sins, and the sign of the cross.103 The many traits of Christianity
that had been incorporated into Bektashism (as well as into the lores of other Sufi congregations) faciliated the conversion to Islam among the population in the Middle East
and the Balkans, which previously had only been superficially Christianized.
According to Dauer, Kaleshi and Kissling,104 the major dervish orders like the Mevlevi
and Bektashi contributed significantly to the shaping of popular Islamic beliefs and had
strong connections to craftmen's guilds (ahiler).105 Concomitantly, the Bektashis practiced remarkable tolerance towards Christians and an overall liberal attitude, also applying to the intake of alcohol.106 Bartl claims:
‘Charakteristisch für den in Albanien verbreiteten Synkretismus waren auch die Erfolge
sektiererischer Bewegungen der Derwischbünde, besonders des Derwischordens der Bek107
tashi, der in seiner Lehre auch christliche Elemente aufgenommen hatte.’
5. The ’Albanisation’ of the Tarikat
According to the majority of sources, the Bektashi faith gradually became more and
more deeply rooted in Albania during the 19th century.108 One reason for this was the
fact that the tarikat was spared suppression of the order had to face in the core areas of
the Ottoman Empire (such as Anatolia) in the first quarter of the 19th century (18221826)109 so that the Albanian Bektashis were in a far better and more secure position
than the adherents of the same faith in Turkey.110 Clayer speaks about ‘un 'solidication'
d'un bektachisme proprement albanais dans les confins occidenteaux de l'Empire [ottomane]‘,111 with elements of Albanian nationalism being integrated into Bekatashi lore,
especially in the southern parts of the country where most of the Bektashi teqes were
situated.112 Hasluck described the Bektashi influence on social and political life in Albania in the following way:
103 Cf. Clayer, L‘Albanie, pays des derviches, 15-16, 31; Gashi/Steiner, Albanien, 101; Bartl, Die Albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung, 30, who writes: ‘... die religiösen Ideen der Derwische fanden bei der einheimischen Bevölkerung leichter Anklang als der orthodoxe Islam‘. - Author's translation: The religious ideas of the dervishs found more ready acceptance
among the native population than orthodox Islam.
104 Dauer, Kaleshi, Kissling, Pllana, Baba Kâzim, Oberhaupt der Bektâshi-Derwische in Djakovica, 8.
105 Cf. Birge, The Bektashi Oder of Dervishes, 217-218; Frembgen, Derwische, gelebter Sufismus, 24;
Haas, Die Bektaşi.
106 Cf. Gashi/Steiner, Albanien, 67.
107 Bartl, Religionsgemeinschaften und Kirchen, 589. Author's translation: A typical feature of the syncretism spread in Albania was the success of Islamic sects of dervish orders [in converting people to
their faith], especially the dervish order of the Bektasiye, who had also incorporated Christian elements in their doctrines.
108 Bartl, die Albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung, 108; Popovic/
Veinstein, Bektachiyya, xi; Stadtmüller, Der Derwischorden der Bektaschi in Albanien, 687-688.
109 Cf. Bartl, die Albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung, 105.
110 Dauer, Kaleshi, Kissling, Pllana, Baba Kâzim, Oberhaupt der Bektâshi-Derwische in Djakovica, 12.
111 Clayer, La Bektachiyya, 470.
112 Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des dervichs, 31.
76
‘To an outsider it appears that the Albanian temperament has evolved a form of Bektashism in which the social organization rather than the religious-superstitious side is uppermost ... Characteristic of the time at which Bektashism won its foothold in Albania - the
era of the French Revolution - is the prominence given here, in theory at least, to certain
liberal ideas, such as the Brotherhood of Man and the unimportance of the dogmas and
formalities of religion as compared with conduct.‘113
It is a generally held opinion that the order played a leading role in the movement of
‘national awakening‘ (rilindja) in Albania from 1878 onwards because leading members of the movement belonged to the Bektashis.114 Clayer claims that ‘... les Bektachis
albanais ètaint, avant tout, partisans de l'emancipation vis à vis la Turquie ...‘.115 Bartl,
while refering to Naim Frashëri, even speaks of attempts to turn Bektashism into an allencompassing national religion for all Albanians,116 attempts by Naim Frashëri to ‘albanise‘ the Bektashis and the later Bektashis' connections to the Young Turks are mentioned by Stadtmüller.117 A central role of the Bektashis within the famous Ligue of
Prizren (1878-1881), being the crucial movement for Albanian independence, is usually
acknowledged,118 and it was Bektashis who organized the introduction of the Albanian
language for education purposes (also to Christians) and founded patriotic clubs (for
example Bashkimi in Elbasan).119 In the second half of the 19th century, Bektashi prayer
texts were increasingly written in Albanian (the so-called fletorë e Bektashinit).120 On
the other hand, it is by no means certain that the majority of the Bektashi adherents
played a major role in the national Albanian movement: This might be one of the several myths surrounding the Bektashis. It is well known from other sources that most of
the Bektashi teqe in Albania were founded at the turn of the 19th to the 20th centuries,
when a renaissance of the order took place.121 Whether or not there was significant Bektashi influence on the rilindja movement, it becomes quite clear that a decisive national
Albanian character of the order was further fostered in the course of the 20th century,
113 Hasluck, The non-conformist Muslims of Albania, 538.
114 Bartl, die Albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung: 108 ff., Religionsgemeinschften und Kirchen 595; Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 15-16; 31; Frashëri,
The History of Albania, 226-256.
115 Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 42.
116 Bartl, Religionsgemeinschaften und Kirchen, 589: ‘Ende des 19. Jh. gab es sogar Bestrebungen, die
Bektasiye zu einer alle Albaner verbindenden Nationalreligion zu machen.‘
117 Stadtmüller, Der Derwischorden der Bektaschi in Albanien, 687-688.
118 Cf. Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 41; Hall, Albania and the Albanians, 43: ‘Bektashi leaders played an important part in the Albanian national movement, mediating between other religious
groups and providing a more outward-looking cultural receptacle for external influences (Hasluck,
1925; Birge, 1937; Jacques, 1938). Naim Frashëri who, towards the end of the nineteenth century,
strove to establish a unified written language and glorify the Albanian past in a literature of ist own,
was a leading Bektashi.‘
119 Cf. Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 42; Bartl, die Albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung.
120 Cf. Hasluck, The non-conformist Muslims of Albania, 552-553.
121 Cf. Faroqhi, The Bektashis, 22; cf. Bartl, die Albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung, 9.
77
one reason being the general dismissal and abolition of dervish orders in the Turkish
Republic in 1925/26.
After the independence of Albania in 1912/13, ties with the pir evi, the Bektashis’ order
centre in Hacıbektaşköy, Cappadocia, and the order's hierachy in Turkey were slowly
cut.122 Together with the loss of the Turkish Balkan provinces, all these reasons contributed to the fact that the Bektashis' ‘... center of gravity changed‘ towards a number of
successor states of the Ottoman Empire.123 Already before, the '‘divorce' entre Bektachis
turcs et Bektachis albanais‘had taken place.124 The babas of most of the tekkes, even of
the Bektashis' main centre (pir evi) in Hacibektaşköy in Cappadokia, had been Albanians. The same applied to the tekkes in Crete and Lykia (Turkey) as well as in Egypt.125
Regarding all these facts, it is hardly sursprising that the Albanian Bektashis in 1927
took steps to establish the order's world centre (Kryegjyshat) in Tirana,126 though it took
until 1945 before they could organise independently within the Albanian state. The order's head Salih Niyazi Dede moved from Ankara to Tirana in 1930. It is estimated that
between 1912 and 1945, approximately 15 to 20 % of the Albanian population were
Bektashis.127
Between 1921 and 1950 the Albanian Bektashis organised five congresses ‘to accomplish the change of an Ottoman dervish order towards a religious congregation of the
new Albanian Nation‘.128 The Bektashi statute of 1924 defining the order as ‘une commaunuté indépendante au sein de la religion muselmane‘129 was not approved by the
Albanian government and the Sunni community, and it lasted until 1945 before the Bektashis were officially recognised as an independent religious congregation. In 1924/25,
the Bektashis sided with Christian Albanians in a revolt against King Zogu, but after122 Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 46.
123 Mélikoff, Bektashi/Kizilbas, 7; cf. Dauer/Kaleshi/Kissling/Pllana, Baba Kâzim, Oberhaupt der
Bektâshi-Derwische in Djakovica, 9: ‘Das Erlöschen des Sultanats und das Verbot (1925) der Derwisch-orden in der Türkei verschoben Wirkungsfeld und -möglichkeiten in einzelne Nachfolgestaaten des Osmanenreiches.‘ - Author's translation: The end of the sultanat and the ban on the dervish
orders (1925) shifted the field and the opportunities of influence to the divers successor states of the
Ottoman Empire.
124 Clayer, La Bektachiyya, 470.
125 Ibid., cf. Bartl, die Albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung: 105;
Hasluck, The non-conformist Muslims of Albania, 535. The same author, ibid., 515-516, claimed
that Mehmet Ali from Egypt, being of Albanian origin, had himself been a Bektashi, and that Bektashism was spread in Egypt by Albanian mercenaries, the late Baba of Kaygusuz Tekke in Cairo also being an Albanian.
126 Bartl, Religionsgemeinschaften und Kirchen, 594; Clayer, La Bektachiyya, 27. Concerning the exact
foundation date and place of the Kryegjyshat in Albania, there are considerable contradictions in the
avaiable sources: Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 123, claims that the Bektashi Kryegjyshat
was moved between 1931 and 1945 within Albania to Tirana, whereas other authors (e.g. Gashi/
Steiner, Albanien, 267) speak about the foundation of the order's world centre in Tirana as early as
1927, shortly after the prosecution of all Sufi tarikats in the Turkish Republic; cf. Young, Religion
and society in present-day Albania, 9.
127 Bartl, Religionsgemeinschaften und Kirchen, 594-595; Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes;
Clayer, Bektachisme et nationalisme albanais, 298; cf. Lakshman-Lepain, The Bektashis, the Halvetis and the Baha’is, 19-20: ‘Until 1967 they accounted for 25% of the Muslims in the country, or
17% of the total Albanian population.‘
128 Bartl, Religionsgemeinschaften und Kirchen, 595; authors translation.
129 Ibid.; Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches.
78
wards gained great political influence during his reign.130 During the order's restructuring, in 1929 and 1945 a new hierachy was introduced, using Albanian instead of Turkish names for the different ranks of the tarikat. Since May 1945, there is the ranks of
ashik (non-initiated sympathiser of the tarikat), muhib (member of the order), and
among the clerics: gjysh (formerly dede), prind (baba), and halife.131 Until 1937, the
Kryegjysh (head baba, leader of the order) had to be approved by the Albanian King.
During the Second World War and the Civil War in Albania, members of the Bektashi
order sided both with the Communist guerilla (for example the partisan group of Baba
Faja Martaneshi) as well as with the nationalist Balli Kombëtar. Apparently, there was
no Communist majority within the adherents of Bektashism, though adherents of the
Bektashis also participated in the celebration of the Communist forces victory, as Kadaré indicates:
‘Neben Nachrichten aus aller Welt waren Lokalnachrichten wie diese zu lesen: 'Gestern
abend hat die religiöse Sekte der Bektashi in Gegenwart von Regierungschef Enver
Hoxha eine rituelle Zeremonie mit einer Rufa'ija-Sitzung veranstaltet.' [Ritual einer
132
Sekte, in deren Verlauf Derwische tanzen, die in Trance fallen].‘
The statute of 1945 showed clear opposition against Communist leadership, with internal strife within the community escalating in March of 1947 when the Babas (prindët)
Faja Martaneshi und Fejzo Dervishi (who were loyal towards the Communist regime)
were shot and killed by Kryegjysh Abaz Hilmi after they had demanded more democracy within the tarikat and accused the kryegysh of being a reactionary.133 After this
incident, Abaz Hilmi committed suicide, and repression against non-loyal members of
the order started. The tarikat was totally government-controlled and Ahmed Myftar
Dede, being a loyal follower of Communist doctrines, was appointed Kryegjysh, staying
in office until 1958. The Bektashis in Egypt and Turkey (constituting a clandestine
movement) declared their independence from the Albanian Kryeggjyshat (world centre)
130 Hasluck, The non-conformist Muslims of Albania, 388; Busch-Zantner, Die Sekte der Bektashi in
Albanien, 245; cf. Hall, Albania and the Albanians, 44: ‘In an inter-war period dominated by the
Muslim Zog, the Bektashi Order, expelled from Turkey, became an important national influence.‘
131 Bartl, Religionsgemeinschaften und Kirchen, 596; cf. Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, 162166; Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 50-56; Popovic, La communauté musulmane d’Albanie
dans la période post-ottomane, 171, 195-196.
132 Kadaré, Albanischer Frühöing, 153. Author's translation: Besides news from all over the world, local
notes like the following were to be read: ‘Last night, the religious sect of the Bektashi conducted a
religious ceremony with a Rufa'iyya session in the presence of the head of state, Enver Hoxha‘. The
German translator added the note: ‘ritual of a sect, during which dervishes are falling into trance‘.
There is a somewhat obscure notion concerning a Rufa'i (=Rifa'i) session in connection with a Bektashi ceremony.
133 A different version was presented to me by Baba "Mondi" from the Tirana-based Kryegjyshat (personal communication, August 2 000): According to him, Baba Faja Marataneshi was killed because
he had violated the rules of the Bektashi order by marrying and having a son. This version is questioned by the sociologist Vasfi Baruti in Tirana who told me (personal communication, August 2000)
that Baba Faja Martaneshi died under very suspicious circumstances, with Enver Hoxhi himself
being suspected to have ordered his assassination.
79
and elected Ahmed Sirrî Baba in Cairo as head of the order in 1949.134 In Detroit, a
Bektashi teqe was founded by Rexhebi Baba in 1954,135 issuing the journal Zëri i Bektashizmës (’the voice of Bektashism’). According to the statutes of the Albanian Bektashis of 1950, the order could also serve as an umbrella organisation for other Sufi
communities in the country, such as the Halveti and Rrufai (Rifa'i).136
After 1967, when the general prosecution of all religious activities in Albania set in,
little is known about the fate of the Bektashis in the country and further developments
effecting the order (tarikat).
6. Remarks on the Present State of Research regarding the Albanian Bektashis
Due to the political isolation of Albania during recent decades (from 1945 until 1990),
research by Western scholars was considerably hindered. Therefore, many of the available ethnographic sources on Albania deal with archaic features of the Albanian society,
expecially concerning customary law (the famous kanun), tribal and family organisation, and the ethnogenesis of Albanians.137 Thus, these studies tend to be orientated towards the folklorist paradigm of Reliktforschung138 - means searching for the remainders of ancient times- and are concomitantly very much historically orientated. Concerning studies that were published before World War II, there is a definite tendency
towards an idealization of Albanians, especially the northern mountaineers, depicting
tribal life and customs in Albania in a heroic and glorious light, idealizing patriarchal
society and manly features, such as bravery and honour:
‘Um die Blutrache unter den albanischen Stämmen hat sich ein eigenes 'Genre' der Blutrachegeschichtschreibung herausgebildet, in dem insbesondere österreichische und deutsche Reisende und Wissenschaftler tätig waren. Die Blutrache wurde dem Leser als etwas
Sensationelles präsentiert. Je nach Intention des Schreibers wurden die albanischen
Stammesbewohner als Wilde und Barbaren oder als besonders männliche und heldenhafte
'Adlersöhne' hingestellt (Schneeweiß 1935:241f.; Erdeljanovič 1907:218-221; Popovic
1954:67 f.). Sie lassen den Eindruck entstehen, daß Leben der Menschen habe sich um
nichts anderes als um Blutrache gedreht. Dabei wird mit dem bei uns sehr ansprechenden
Sentiment des Heldenhaften operiert. Der berühmte albanische Schriftsteller Ismail Kadaré hat in seinem vor kurzen erschienen Roman 'Der zerrissene April' in eindrucksvoller
Weise an dieses Gefühl appeliert ... Der östereichisch-ungarische Wissenschaftler Franz
von Nopcsa erarbeitete auf der Grundlage von Pfarrmatriken für den Zeitraum von 1890
134 Cf. Bartl, Religionsgemeinschaften und Kirchen, 595-597; or in 1947, according to Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 123.
135 Ibid.; Popovic, La communauté musulmane d'Albanie dans la période post-ottomane, 203.
136 Bartl, Religionsgemeinschaften und Kirchen, 598.
137 This includes also the question of the Illyrian heritage of the present-day Albanians, the extent and
the results of the hellenisation, or romanisation, respectively, of presentday Albanian territories, or
the relationship between Albanians and Aromanians (Vlahs).
138 Cf. Bausinger, Volkskunde, 135 ff.
80
bis 1905 eine Statistik über die Blutrachetoten in den albanischen Stammesgebieten. Aus
dieser Statistik geht hervor, daß im Stamm Toplana etwa 42 Prozent der verstorbenen erwachsenen Männer ermordet wurden, im Stamm Spaci 32 Prozent, im Stamm Shala 26,
im Stamm Shoshi 25, im Stamm Dushmani 23 Prozent usw.‘139
This attitude also applies to the studies concerning Islam in Albania, and - not surprisingly - studies on the Albanian Bektashis are mostly historically orientated.140 Clayer
gives a short account on recent developments, touching upon the 6th Congress of the
Albanian Bektashis in Tirana and mentioning growing opposition among the remaining
Bektashis in Macedonia, Kosova as well as immigrant Bektashi communities in western
Europe and overseas against Kryegjysh Reshat Bardhi in Tirana.141
Other Bektashi-related publications either cover the tarikat in its Turkish region of origin142 or in other areas of the Balkans.143As Vorhoff writes,
139 Kaser, Hirten, Kämpfer, Stammeshelden, 227-228. Author's translation: Concerning blood revenge
among the Albanian tribes, an own genre of 'histography of vendetta' developed which was inspired
especially by Austrian and German travellers. Blood revenge was presented as something sensational
to the reader. According to the writer's intention, Albanian tribesmen were either depicted as savages
and barbarians, or as oustanding virile and heroic 'sons of the eagle' (Schneeweiß 1935:241f.; Erdeljanovič 1907:218-221; Popovic 1954:67 f.). Thus, the impression is given that life of the people was
concerned with vendetta, and nothing else, and the very appealing sentiment of heriosm is used. In
his recently [the quotation dates back to 1992] published novel ‘Broken April‘, the famous Albanian
author Ismail Kadaré appealed strongly to this sentiment ... The Austro-Hungarian researcher Franz
von Nopsca elaborated on statistics referring to the victims of blood revenge in the Albanian tribal
areas, using parochial files as a data base. According to his statistics, 42% of deceased adult men of
Toplana tribe were murdered, 32% in Spaci tribe, 26% in Shala tribe, 25% in Shoshi tribe, 23% in
Dushmani tribe etc.‘ For further examples pertaining to this ‘genre‘ of literature, cf. Peinsipp, Das
Volk der Schkypetaren.
140 Babinger, Bei den Derwischen von Kruja, Albanien, Ewlijâ Tschelebis Reisewge in Albanien; Bartl,
Religionsgemeinschaften und Kirchen, 594 ff.; Brown, The Dervishes or Oriental Spiritualism;
Busch-Zantner, Die Sekte der Bektaschi in Albanien; Clayer, L'Albanie, pays des derviches, Sur le
traces des derviches de Macedone yougoslave, La Bektachiyya; Groß, Das Vilajetname des Haggi
Bektasch; Hasluck, The Non-Conformist Moslems of Albania; Jacob, Beiträge zur Kenntnis des
Derwisch-Ordens der Bektaschi, Die Bektaschijje in ihrem Verhältnis zu verwandten Erscheinungen;
Kissling, Zur Frage der Anfänge des Bektaschitums in Albanien, Über die Anfänge des Bektaschitums in Albanien; Lakshman-Lepain, Religions between tradition and pluralism, The Bektashis, the
Halvetis and the Baha'is; Rexhebi, Misticiszma Islame dhe Bektashiszma; Stadtmüller, Der Derwischorden der Bektaschi in Albanien; Tschudi, Rudolf, Das Vilajetname des Hadschim Sultan;
Vlora, Aus Berat und vom Tomor, Apercu sur l’histoire des ordres religieux et en particulier du Bektachisme en Albanie. There are also two scientific films on Baba Kazim in Gjakova (Djakovica, Kosova/o) and a visit to a Halveti-teqe in Prizren by Hans-Joachim Kissling and Hasan Kaleshi available which are distributed by IWF (Institut für den Wissenschaftlichen Film) in Göttingen, Germany
(Film E 1970 and E 1976, Publikation Sektion Ethnologie 10/49, 1980).
141 Clayer, La Bektachiyya, 388, 472.
142 Atalay, Bektaşilik ve Edebiyati; Bedri, Bektaşîlik Alevîlik Nedir; Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes; Eröz, Türkiye’de Alevîlik ve Bektâşîlik; Haas, Die Bektaşi; Hasluck, Christianity and Islam
under the Sultans, The Non-Conformist Moslems of Albania; Kehl, Die Tahtaci; Kehl-Bodrogi, Die
Kizilbas/Aleviten, Beruf, Religion, Identität; Köprülü, Türk Edebiyati’nda Ilk Matasavvifler, Les
origins du Bektachisme, The Originins of the Ottoman Empire, The Seljuks of Anatolia, Islam in
Anatolia after the Turkish Invasion; Luschan, Die Tahtadschi und andere Reste der alten Bevölkerung Lykiens; Nüzhet, Bektaşı saırlı; Ocak, Bektaşi menakibnamelerinde Islam öncesi inanç motifleri; Özkirimili, Alevilik – Bektaşilik ve edebiyati; Popovic/Veinstein, Les ordres mystiques dans
L'Islam, Bektachiyya, Les Voies d'Allah.
143 Bilici/Clayer/Thombie/Baque-Grammont, Derviches des Balkans; Choublier, Les Bektachis de la
Roumélie; Popovic/Veinstein, Les ordres mystiques dans L'Islam, Bektachiyya., Les Voies d'Allah;
Zarcone, Nouvelles perspectives dans les recherches sur les kizilbas-Alévis et les bektachis de la
Dobroudja, de Deli Orman et de la Thrace orientale.
81
‘Alevi-Bektashi studies were until recently largely the domain of Orientalists. They concentrated
on the history of the Bektashi order (tarikat), which goes back to the 13th century, and the Babaî
and Kizilbas (lit. 'Readhead') movements.‘ 144
Though Bektashis, Alevis, Kizilbaş, Tahtacis, Alawites and other Ali-oriented groups in
the Islamic world in recent years have found considerable attention in matters of ethnography, sociology, and their contemporary political implications,145 there is no study
relating to the contemporary Albanian Bektashis. Still, Natalie Clayer is right in her
claim that studies on the Bektashis ’... restent rares et insuiffisant’.146
This is very surprising in regard of the fact that there is a general renaissance of religion
in Albania after 1990: Gashi & Steiner speak of a renaissance in form of a peaceful coexistence of the four religious groups of Catholics, Albanian-Orthodox, Sunites, and
Bektashis147 after the ban on all religious activities in Albania had been lifted on May
5th, 1990 Bektashi ceremonies are broadcasted in TV, teqes which had been destroyed
or abandoned in Communist times are renovated and reconstructed – for example the
teqe beneath ‘Skanderbeg’s castle’ in Kruja, allegedly situated at the site of the footprints of Sari Saltik, the so-called Bektashi missionary in the Balkans.148
One description of contemporary developments among the Albanian Bektashis I would
like to quote here in length:149
‘The Kryegjyshat or World Centre of the Bektashi community claims continuity with the
juridical person that emerged in 1921 during their First Congress, when the order took the
name of Komuniteti Bektashi (Bektashi Community). According to the editor of the Urtesia magazine, Kujtim Ahmataj, the name was adopted in order to 'distinguish ourselves
from the Sunnis.' He declares that 'today the Bektashis have been recognized as a community and as an association', to which the lawyer Vjollca Mecaj adds the nuance that 'If
the Bektashis are not registered as an association, there is no act to recognize the legiti-
144 Vorhoff, Academic and jounalistic publications on the Alevi and Bektashi of Turkey, 24.
145 Cf. the various contributions in Olsson/Özdalga/Raudvere, Alevi Identities. Popovic/Veinstein, Les
ordres mystiques dans L'Islam, Bektachiyya, Les Voies d'Allah.
146 Clayer, L’Albanie, pays des derviches, 1.
147 Gashi/Steiner, Albanien, 72, original quote: “Wiedergeburt‘ ... in Form der traditionell friedlichen
Koexistenz der vier Religionsgruppen ... Katholiken, Albanisch-Orthodoxe, Sunniten, Bektashis ...‘;
cf. Bartl, Religionsgemeinschaften und Kirchen, 587.
148 Also written Sary Saltyk, Sari Salltuk, or Sarı Saltık, according to Turkic or Albanian affiliation of
the respective source. Accounts of the person and the life of Sari Saltik are given in Bartl, Die Albanischen Muslime zur Zeit der nationalen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung, Birge, The Bektashi Order of
Dervishes, 51-53, Hasluck, The non-conformist Muslims of Albania, 397, Christianity and Islam und
the Sultans, 429-439; and Popovic, La communauté musulmane d’Albanie dans la période postottomane. A reference to the teqe beneath Kruja can be found in Babinger, Bei den Derwischen von
Kruja, 165: ‘Bei einer kleinen Kapelle, Dschurmeti Schejntit, das ist 'Fußspur des Heiligen (nämlich
Saltyk Dedes), genannt, machten wir nochmals Halt ...‘. - Author's translation: We stopped again at a
small chapel called Jurmeti Sheyntit [English transcription], that means 'footprint of the saint', refering to Saltyk Dede). - Zarcone, Nouvelles perspectives dans les recherches sur les kizilbas-Alévis et
les bektachis de la Dobroudja, de Deli Orman et de la Thrace orientale, 3, 4, stresses the importance
of Sari Saltuk for the Islamization and partly Turkisation (in past times, perhaps refering to the Gagauz people?) of Dobruja and claims that dervishes had been present in this region from the 13th
century onwards ; cf. Barkan, Istiklâl devirlerin kolonizatör Türk dervişleri ve zâviyeler, 2.
149 Lakshman-Lepain, The Bektashis, the Halvetis and the Baha'is.
82
mate existence of their religion. Bearing in mind the real estate which they own, the Bektashis have no interest in being registered as an association.'
Consequently, the Bektashis have an ambigous status which places them somewhere in
the middle between the three official religions and the other religious minorities. Similiar
to the Sunnis, the Orthodox and the Catholic religions, the state recognizes their existence
de facto, which spares them the necessity of registering, but they have no right to have
their own representative in the State Secretariat of religions and all their activities and all
their activities placed under the supervision of the Sunni community. Their spiritual
leader (Kryegysh) Haxhi Dede Reshat Bardhi paticipates in all state ceremonies, and recently the Nevruz holiday on March 22 was declared to be an official holiday, because it
coincides with the Day of Democracy. According to Mr Kujtim Ahmataj, the Bektashis
have partially succeeded in reclaiming their lands and their 'tekkes' from the state, and
they appear to be confident about the future. The process is nevertheless delayed and nobody can identify the exact nature of the obstacles. Incidentally, Mr. Ahmataj claims that
he has no problem gaining access to mass media. There is regular coverage of their ceremonies on TV.‘
This means there is ample evidence for the renewed presence of Bektashi adherents in
Albania at the end of the 20th century, with their rituals, their everyday lives, their socioeconomic, political, and religious situation being unsufficiently documented. In this
paper I made an attempt to summarise the present state of research on the Albanian
Bektashis, thereby offering access also to little known sources in German language, to
faciliate further, most desirable research.
7. Questions and Suggestions for further Research
As – for example - the findings and conclusions of a conference on Myths in Albania150
in 1999 indicate, many supposedly well established facts concerning Albanian history
have to be serverely contested and questioned, resulting from the isolated position of the
country in recent decades and the deliberate use of myths for political purposes and the
Communist regime. This also means that many historical incidents like the origin of the
Bektashis in Albania, the time and circumstances of the introduction of the tarikat to
Albania, and the order's role in the rilindja movement remain questions for further research.
Areas of further research arise from the need for ethnographic and sociological investigation of the Albanian Bektashis. Thus, I would like to draw the reader's attention to
three different sets of question which I regard as being crucial for further reasearch:
150 The full title of the conference which was organised by Mrs. Schwandner-Sievers and took place at
the London University's School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) in June 1999 was
The Role of Myths in Albania in History and Development.
83
(1) The relationship between the different religions present in Albania and their development in face of an of a substratum of folk religion
The highly syncretistic character of the Bektashi faith in general151 leads to the question
in which way the different religions which have been introduced to Albania in the
course of history (two different versions of Christianity: Catholicism and Orthodoxy,
and at least two different forms of Islam: Sunni, Shi'a derived Bektashism, and numerous other Sufi tarikat) (1) did influence each other, and (2) where combined and mixed
with, and integrated different aspects of a pre-Christian folk religion. The persistance of
many traits of folk religion is a notable feature of everyday life in Albania: Large puppets are erected on rooftops as protection against the evil eye, monetary demands by
Gypsies (Roma) made for fear of black magic, and of spells being put on people who
are reluctant to pay for their services, the word mashallah is frequently used in colloquial language, refering to all measures of protection against evil charms and sorcery.
Bektashism with its genuine synchrestic and heterodox appearance, having combined
various Muslim, pre-Islamic Turkic, Christian (Nestorian), and may be even Buddhist
elements already in the Asiatic regions of its origin,152 is naturally suspectible of further
synchretistic tendencies in Albania and other regions of the Balkans.
This basic situation leads to the question of religious syncretism in the interface of Islam and Christianity as well as to the question of the maintainance of an autochthonous
religious substratum and its assertion when being confronted with forms of the official
religion: How could typical Albanian forms of Islam emerge? Which religious substratum was incorporated into the rituals and ceremonies of the Bektashi tarikat which deviate greatly from the ceremonies and rules propagated by official Sunni and Shi'a Islam
alike? - Further, the question of religious ‘heretics‘ comes up: How does a Muslim
‘sect‘ like the Bektashis interact with the Islamic Orthodoxy?
(2) The question of survival of a multi-faceted religious "landscape" in the face of state
repression and changing values due to profound social changes.
To what extent could elements of Islam, and especially organisational structures of the
Bektashis, survive in Albania during the last fifty years? How did Islam deal with
Communism? Actually, there is many indications pointing to the fact that neither the
religious organisation nor a thorough knowledge of Bektashi doctrins survived the times
151 Cf. Mélikoff, Bektashi/Kizilbas, 1; Vorhoff, Academic and journalistic publications on the Alevi and
Bektashi in Turkey, 188.
152 Cf. Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes; Esin, Thémes et symboles communes entre le Bouddhisme tantrique et la tradition des Bektachis ottoman; Faroqhi, The Bektashis; Frembgen, Derwische,
gelebter Sufismus; Haas, Die Bektaşi; Kissling, Das islamische Derwischwesen, die islamischen
Derwischorden; Müller, kulturhistorische Studien zur Genese pseudo-islamischer Sektengebilde in
Vorderasien; Ocak, Bektaşi menakibnamelerinde Islam öncesi inanç motifleri; Popovic. La communauté musulmane d’Albanie dans la période post-ottomane; Schimmel, Mystische Dimensionen des
Islam, Sufismus und Volksfrömmigkeit.
84
of Communist rule153 but the extent of the practice of Bektashism in Albania has not yet
been asserted.
(3) The maintainance of independent Albanian forms of religiousity in the face of
growing antagonistic influences from the East and West.
What kind of position do members of the Bektashis take in the Albanian society of the
third millenium, which is deeply antogonistic, crisis-striven, and has to find an own
identity? - In present-day Albania, it is quite obvious that a number of Middle Eastern
countries are involved in religious as well as economic activities. This is indicated by
Turkish Albanian joint ventures, the Arab Albanian Bank (cf. Hall 1994:xxv), and hotels constructed by entrepreneurs from the Arabian Emirates. Thus, it becomes quite
obvious that a number of countries of the Middle East (especially Iran and the Gulf
states) try to gain influence in Albania as being traditionally a predominantly Muslim
country.154
In this way, the country is launched into a sphere of tensions between East and West,
between a stronger orientation towards western Europe (which seems to be favored by
most politicians and intellec-tuals) or a stronger dependency on the oil-rich countries of
the Muslim world. There is strong evidence for attempts by the Iranian government and
leading clerics of the Islamic Republic to influence Bektashism in Albania by sending
Bektashi adherents to the Holy City of Qom for religious training.155 Concerning Alevis
in Turkey and elsewhere, the impact of foreign influences on this religion has been investigated in a number of studies in recent years,156 but no such study has yet been carried out concerning the Albanian Bektashis.
Concerning the contradictory forces of Western and Eastern influence that effect contemporary Albania, it has to be added that it has always been the country's position to be
torn between East and West since the early Middle Ages, starting with the division of
the Roman Empire: from the 6th century onwards, Albania was caught in the middle
between the sphere of the western Roman Empire and Byzantium. This immediate position also found its expression in the religious division between Catholicism (in the north
of the Albanian-inhabited territories) and Orthodoxy (in the south). From the 15th century onwards, the influence of the Ottoman Empire further enlarged foreign domination
and put the country in a marginal position between occidental Christianity and oriental
Islam. As a reaction to centuries of foreign dominance and antagonistic outside influences, an astonishing inertness and preservation of archaic features characterises cul-
153
154
155
156
Lakshman-Lepain, personal communication 1999.
Cf. Lakshman-Lepain in this volume.
Lakshman-Lepain, personal communication, cf. also in this volume.
E.g. Cornell, On Bektashism in Bosnia; Olsson et al., Alevi Identities; Rittersberger-Tilic, Development and reformulation of a returnee identy as Alevi.
85
tural as well as religious life.157 Christianity as well as Islam did not manage to subdue
elements of the autochthonous religion completely. Taking into account this background, especially Bektashism as a religion that incorporated so many archaic traits and
developed an independent Albanian character might serve as a pardigmatic example for
these forces of inertness and resistance, and therefore deserves special attention.
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