The nearly six centuries of
Ottoman rule over
south-eastern Europe
provided considerable
occasion for the spread of
Islam in that part of the
world. Undeniably, among
the nations that now
comprise the Balkan
Peninsula (Albania,
Bosnia-Hercegovina,
Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece,
Macedonia, Montenegro and
Serbia) the Muslim
component of their
populations is quite
discernible and apparent.
Two of these nations, Albania
and Bosnia-Hercegovina, are
comprised of Muslim majority
populations. Huge Muslim
minorities can be found
among the inhabitants of
Macedonia and Serbia (which
also includes the province of
Kosova). In Croatia, Bulgaria,
Montenegro and Greece the
percentages of Muslims is
much smaller, but in some
cases the numbers can be
quite impressive, as with the
more than 1 million in
Bulgaria!
over 5 million. They are concentrated in the central and southern regions of the peninsula
and form the overwhelming majority of the population in Albania, the Serbian occupied
province of Kosova, and western Macedonia. There are small groups of Albanians living in
Bosnia, Montenegro, and Croatia who are primarily émigrés from the Tito era. In regards to
religion, Albanians have never found in it a force for ethnic unity, though they are, for the
most part, followers of Islam (or the non-practicing descendants of Muslims). Sizeable
segments of the Albanian people still adhere to either Roman Catholic or Orthodox
Christianity, and among the Muslim population there was (and is) further division between
Sunnis and the followers of the Shi’i Bektashis.
The next ethnic element of the Muslim population of the Balkan Peninsula is that of the Slavs.
They number some 3.5 million and are the descendants those portions of the populace that
embraced Islam during the centuries of Ottoman rule. Culturally and linguistically they are a
varied group whose language, racial origin and religious faith form for the only common
feature. Muslim Slavs form a plurality of the population of Bosnia-Hercegovina (where they
are known as Bošnjaks), a majority of the Serbian-controlled region of Sandzak, and a
significant minority in Macedonia (where they are known as Torbesi) and Bulgaria (where
they identify themselves as Pomaks). Small pockets of Slav-speaking Muslims can also be
found in northern Greece (Pomaks) and in Kosova (Goranis).
The Turkish element in the Balkan Muslim population is but a mere shadow of what it once
was even a century ago. In the past, Turkish-speaking Muslims made up substantial portions
of the populations of Macedonia, Thessaly, Morea and Bulgaria. At the present time, there are
nearly one million Turks who continue to live in Bulgaria. In Macedonia and Greece there are
some 200,000 Muslims who still classify themselves as Turks. There are also less significant
communities of ethnic Turks who live in the urban centres Kosova and the Sandžak.
The Roma (Gypsy) are a smaller yet significant Balkan Muslim ethnic group. They are highly
scattered throughout the region and tend to follow the prevailing religion where they reside.
Consequently in the heavily Islamized regions of Bosnia, Albania, Bulgaria and Macedonia
they usually profess Islam whereas in parts of Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece they are Orthodox
Christian. In Macedonia, the Roma are a highly visible minority, especially around the capitol
city of Skopje. Historically, the Roma have suffered (and continue to do so) from racial
discrimination by their non-Roma neighbours, both Muslim and Christian. In recent decades
the Roma have counteracted their exclusion from the official Islamic by becoming heavily
involved in various Sufi Orders.
In times past there were other ethnic groups that have since disappeared due to “ethnic
cleansing”, annihilation, expulsion or assimilation into one of the more dominant Muslim
groups. For example there once existed large numbers of Greek-speaking Muslims in
Macedonia, Crete and in the various regions of Greece up until the beginning of the 20th
century. Several of the Slav tribes of Montenegro embraced Islam in the early 18th century
only to be exterminated decades later in an event commemorated in the famous Serbian epic
The Mountain Wreath. One can also find the descendants of Circassian and Tatar refugees
from Russia still living in Kosova and Bulgaria, though they have been assimilated to a large
degree into the Albanian or Turkish populations amongst whom they live.
Sufism: a Channel of Islamic Dissemination in the Ottoman Age
In the Balkans (as is the case in other Muslim lands) the past role of the Sufi tariqats (lineage
fraternities) in the safeguarding and promulgation of Islam cannot go without notice. It can
be said with all impartiality that the infusing of an Islamic social order in this part of Europe
could not have been possible without the efforts of Sufi shaykhs (both past and present) and
the fraternities that were formed around them. The Sufis of the Ottoman Balkans greatly
enhance both to the development of an Islam of the intellectual arena as well as a ‘folk’ Islam
of the village and countryside. Despite the fact that it has now been reduced to a mere shadow
of a once immeasurable expression, the impact of Sufism can still be felt throughout Balkan
Islam. The extent of this impression and its function in Muslim society can be seen through
the number of tariqats that have operated in the region over the centuries.
The largest and most prevalent of these tariqats during the Ottoman period were the
Khalwatiyyah and the Bektashiyyah. Though unexceptionally represented at present, these
two tariqats once dominated the Ottoman Balkans throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Naqshbandiyyah, Qadiriyyah and Rifa’iyyah followed them in significance in terms of
supporters and dispersal. Surprisingly all three of these managed to endure to this day with
considerable popularity. Several other tariqats, such as the Mawlawiyyah, Bayramiyyah,
Malamiyyah, Sa’diyyah, Jalwatiyyah, Shadhiliyyah and Badawiyyah, emerged during a
number of stages in the Ottoman era but have died off.
Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Sufis in the Balkans were connected with
Ottoman rule, one of the first Sufis to have come into the region was the pre-Ottoman Bektashi
holy man Sarı Saltik. Most of the details of his life are clouded by legend, this 14th century
Sufi journeyed throughout the peninsula decades well in advance of Ottoman armed forces.
Today his maqams (shrines) can be found in any number of places, including Bosnia (Blagaj),
Romania (Babadag), Macedonia (near Ohrid), and Albania (Kruja), where the most renowned
location is to be found.
As the Ottoman armies extended Muslim rule in the Balkans during the 15th and 16th
centuries, dervishes of a range of tariqats trailed in their wake. These early Balkan Sufis
frequently set up zawiyahs or hospices that served not only as symbols of Ottoman supremacy
over a newly conquered area but as centres for the dissemination of Islam among the local
population as well. Two of these distinguished zawiyahs were founded in the Bosnian city of
Sarajevo immediately after the conquests of 1463. Both of these zawiyahs established by
shaykhs of the Naqshbandi tariqat and were constructed by means of endowments made by
local Ottoman notables. After a while, as the imperial administration became notably more
entrenched and the Islamic religious establishment further developed, tekkes were built to
cater to the spiritual needs of the local population.
The first Ottoman Sufis were primarily among the Naqshbandi lineage, and their identified
hubs during the 15th-17th centuries were in Bosnia and Macedonia. Firmly tied to the Sunni
‘ulama, the Naqshbandiyyah were in the forefront in guaranteeing “conventional” Islam in
Bosnia-Hercegovina and in urban centres throughout the Balkans. There were, furthermore,
three distinctive waves of Naqshbandi implantation in the Balkans during the Ottoman
period. The initial phase was made owing to several shaykhs who were direct representatives
(khalifahs) of Khwajah ‘Ubayd Allah Ahrar. The noteworthy among them included Mullah
‘Abdullah Ilahi (d.1491), who settled in Serez (Greece), and Shaykh Lutfullah, who
established an early Naqshbandi tekke in Skopje. It is extremely plausible that the earliest
Naqshbandi instructors in Bosnia (Uyran Dede and Shemsi Dede to be precise) had some form
of connection with the two previously mentioned shaykhs.
In the late 18th century (after having been overshadowed for nearly a century by the
Khalwatiyyah), the Naqshbandi tariqat in Bosnia was rejuvenated through the remarkable
efforts of ‘Abd al-Rahman Sirri Dede (d.1847). Having been initiated while in Istanbul into one
of the city’s long-standing lineages of the Naqshbandiyyah, Sirri Dede and his devotees turned
central Bosnia into a Naqshbandi stronghold and their descendants still run operating tekkes
to this day. The third outpouring of the Naqshbandiyyah into the Balkans came short after
the second. In the late 19th century the Khalidi branch that was instituted by Khalid al-
Baghdadi made its way into central Bosnia as well as parts of Kosova and Macedonia.
Having become firmly ingrained among the Ottoman ruling class in Istanbul during the early
decades of the 16th century, the shaykhs of the several branches of the Khalwatiyyah sent
their deputies to various points in the Balkans. The Khalwatiyyah was a popular and
fashionable tariqat that had literally hundreds of tekkes established in nearly every region of
the peninsula. The Gulseniyyah had a very early presence in southern Albania and Epirus,
and the Jamaliyyah founded crucial bases in Sofia (Bulgaria) and Užica (Serbia), from where
their tariqat further extended on into Bosnia and Ottoman Hungary. Also present were the
Sinaniyyah and Sunbuliyyah who had tekkes in various municipalities from Sarajevo to Niš to
Skopje to Athens.
A new wave of broadening for Khalwatiyyah occurred when the new sub-orders (sübe) of the
Jarrahiyyah, Karabasiyyah and Hayatiyyah came into forefront in the 17th century. These
three sub-orders eventually outstripped the older branches and came to command the
Khalwatiyyah presence in Albania, Kosova and Macedonia, where the Hayati and the Karabaşi
still function in our day (though in a much reduced scope). In the 18th and 19th centuries,
the Jarrahiyyah performed a noteworthy position in the reinstallation of Muslim life in the
Morea and, later, in Bulgaria. A reformist minded sub-order of the Khalwatis, the Sha’
baniyyah spread into Bosnia and Bulgaria during the mid-19th century and met with sizeable
but short-lived success.
Like the Naqshbandiyyah, the Khalwatiyyah shaykhs were defenders and guardians of
conventional orthodoxy. Many top ranking Balkan ‘ulama’ of the 16th-18th centuries were
affiliated with this tariqat. A notable example was the distinguished Balkan Muslim
theologian of Sofia, Sofyali Bali Efendi (d.1553) who, along with other Khalwati shaykhs, took
an active role in combating the spread of nonconformist beliefs and factions (such as the
Hamzawi movement in Bosnia and the Badr al-Dinists and Kizilbash of Bulgaria) that had
taken root among particular constituents of the Muslim and neo-Muslim population.
During the 15th and 16th centuries the Bektashiyyah, which had long been allied to the
Ottoman military establishment, had only limited appeal in the Muslim populations of the
region. An initial centre for Bektashi endeavours in the Balkans was the tekke at Kizil Deli in
Thrace. It was from here that Balim Sultan (d.1516), commonly seen as the reorganizer of the
tariqat, sent several of his disciples out to the Balkans. Despite the fact that details on the
activities of early Bektashi babas are problematical, the burial places of several survive today
in Macedonia (Sersem ‘Ali Baba in Tetova), Bulgaria (Demir Baba near Razgrad) and Albania
(in and around Kruja). It was not until the 17th century that the Bektashiyyah began to make
considerable gains in the Balkans, largely a product of the attempted obliteration tariqat by
Ottoman authorities (then under the influence of the anti-Sufi Kadizade movement) of the
main tekke at Kizil Deli and the ensuing scattering of its dervishes.
The Bektashiyyah can be said to have belonged to the “left” end of the Sufi spectrum in the
Balkans. Tenaciously Shi’i (and customarily antinomian) in attitude, their shaykhs (known
as babas) were able to gain influence over rural areas and villages throughout Greece,
southern Albania, and Macedonia. The broadmindedness and capacity to absorb local custom
that so epitomized Bektash dervishes presented the rustic element of the population with a
“folk” Islam that they could easily connect with. Similarly, the Kizilbash of Bulgaria (who are
the progeny of heterodox Shi’i Turkmen clans that were exiled from Anatolia and settled in
Bulgaria by the Ottomans) easily incorporated many Bektashi saints and traditions into their
own sacred tenets.
In other areas of the Balkans, such as Bosnia-Hercegovina and in large metropolitan centres,
the Bektashi found limited interest. Their operation in these locales was significantly
diminished by the supremacy of mainstream religious authorities and was generally limited
to Janissary barracks. The tekkes that were established as a result of Ottoman martial
presence vanished as that began to crumble after 1683. Several distinguished tekkes were
located in Budapest (where the tomb of its founder, Gül Baba, still remains and is open for
visitation), Eger (also in Hungary, the building of which still stands), Belgrade, and Banja
Luka.
Despite the setbacks in Hungary and Slavonia, the Bektashiyyah began to gain an immense
footing in Albania and Greece, following the annihilation of the Janissary Corps and the
outlawing of the tariqat in 1826. Many Bektashi babas and dervishes fled to out-of-the-way
areas of the Balkans far from the reach of Ottoman authority. During this period (particularly
after the directive baring Bektashi activity was repealed in the 1860’s), the tariqat had gained
a significant presence in southern Albania. It was noted by one English traveller to the area
during in late-19th that while only one out of ten Albanians north of Tirana adhered to the
Bektashi Order, in the south it was the exact reverse, with nine out of ten Muslims affiliated
with the tariqat! By the end of Ottoman rule in 1912, there were nearly one hundred Bektashi
tekkes in the Albanian regions of the central and western Balkans.
At the beginning of the 17th century, two more tariqats, the Qadiriyyah and the Mawlawiyyah,
were to mark their arrival in the Balkans, and both would come to play an vital position in
spiritual life of the region. The Qadiriyyah started to fan out from its base in Istanbul under
the initiative of Shaykh Isma’il Rumi (d. 1631). By the 1660’s Qadiriyyah could be found in
Prizren (the Kurila Tekke of Shaykh Hasan Khorasani), Berat (the Shaykh Ahmad tekke),
Skopje (Aldi Sultan Tekke), Sarajevo (the Haji Sinan Tekke), Gasoutni (the tekke of Delikli
Baba) and other major urban areas. The Qadiriyyah became deep-rooted in Bosnia due to the
work of the distinguished shaykh Hasan Qa’imi Baba (d.1691). This prolific writer directed at
least two Qadiri tekkes in the city of Sarajevo, before his candid participation in local politics
led to his eviction from the city.
The Qadiriyyah continued to function throughout the Ottoman era, and it received a further
boost in its activities at the end of the 19th century. During this period two notable shaykhs,
Mehmed Sezai and Hadzi Kadri (both Albanians and well educated ‘ulama), revitalized the
order in Kosova, Bosnia, and to a lesser extent Macedonia, after their return from studying
Shari’ah in Istanbul. Haji Kadri (d.1936), who acquired his ijazah in the Qadiri tariqat from
the famous Turkish shaykh Mehmed Emin Tarsusi, established a well-organized network of
deputies throughout the region from Travnik in Bosnia to Peshkopi in eastern Albania.
As the Qadiriyyah made their entrance into the Balkan Peninsula, so did the fraternity
originated by the great mystic Jalaluddin Rumi. In a short period of fifty years the Mawlawis
were able to establish noticeable tekkes in Plovdiv, Serres, Salonika, Elbasan, Skopje, Belgrad,
Pécs (in Hungary) and Sarajevo. Due to the highly sophisticated outlook of this tariqat, its
allure was generally limited to cities and the cultured elite. During the Ottoman age,
numerous of Balkan Mawlawis ranked among the finest literati of the empire. Such figures as
Habib Dede (d.1643), Fevzi Mostarac (d.1707) and Fazil Pasha Sherifovich (d.1882) left their
enduring mark on Ottoman religious literature.
Nevertheless, due to the limited attraction of the order, the Mawlawiyyah soon vanished from
the Balkans after the Ottoman Empire left the region. The few remaining Mevlevihanes
suffered a further blow when Atatürk ordered the closing of their main gathering place in
Konya. The last functioning Mawlawi establishment in the Balkans was located in the city of
Skopje. It was demolished in the 1950’s after its last shaykh, Hakkı Dede, left for Turkey.
During the Ottoman era, several smaller tariqats gained establishment on a much smaller
scale. The fraternity of Hajji Bayram Veli (d. 1430) erected tekkes sprinkled throughout the
Balkans, in such places as Skopje, Sofia and Shkodra. Similarly, two offshoots (kol) of the
Bayramiyyah, the Jalwatiyyah and the Malamiyyah, met with comparable success. In the late
19th century the second received noteworthy success in Kosova and Macedonia, thanks to the
efforts of the Egyptian born shaykh Muhammad Nur ul-‘Arabi (d. 1897). The Malamiyyah
expand in following in the region due to his charismatic appeal.
A much earlier offshoot of the Bayramiyyah was founded by a Bosnian shaykh, Hamza Balija
(d. 1573). Through his advocating what appears to be a remarkably nonconformist
interpretation of Islam (which was heavily influenced by Hurufi doctrines), he managed to
gain widespread following along the Drina River valley in eastern Bosnia. This movement
caused considerable alarm among the conventional religious authorities and the Ottoman
administration. Consequently, the ‘ulama’ of the Balkans (who were nearly all associated with
the Naqshbandiyyah and Khalwatiyyah) came out in unwavering hostility to the
Hamzawiyyah. Finally, Hamza Balija’s open censure of the government caused amplified the
alarm from the regime. Following the handing out of certified fatwas, he was apprehended,
brought to Istanbul to stand trial, and put to death. His followers were forced underground,
while remaining Hamzawi leaders were executed or banish to the remote corners of the
empire. Decades later, the Hamzawiyyah came out from hiding, but it had by then toned down
some of its imaginative unorthodox idea.
The Sa’diyyah tariqat, founded by Shaykh Sa’d al-Din Jibawi (d.1330), first came into the
Balkans in the late 17th century owing to the efforts of Ajizi Baba, who was a native of
northern Albania. He founded a central tekke in Prizren from where the Sa’diyyah spread into
Albania. The Sa’diyyah still has a reasonable active role in these areas today. Its present-day
manifestation is, however, heavily saturated with Bektashi practices and rites.
An additional tariqat of Arab derivation, the Rifa’iyyah came into the Balkans in two distinct
waves. The first in the late 1700’s was restricted to Macedonia and Bulgaria and was
implanted through the efforts of a number of Arab shaykhs. The second wave came about in
the late 19th century, and it firmly established the tariqat as a substantial influence in Balkan
Sufism. This entry of the Rifa’iyyah into was a product of the work of Shaykh Musa Muslih al-
Din of Kosova (d. 1917). During his lifetime he was able to put together a strong network of
adherents and tekkes in both his native Kosova as well as northern Albania. Similar the
Qadiri shaykh Hadži Kadri, Shaykh Musa preserved intimate contact with the Muslims of
Austro-Hungarian occupied Bosnia and even established a small Rifa’i congregation in
Sarajevo.
Two other Arab tarikats, the Shadhiliyyah and Badawiyyah remained restricted to one or two
tekkes in Kosova and Bulgaria, and they have all but disappeared from the region, although a
Qadiri-Badawi branch does functioned in modern times in Sarajevo under the leadership of
Shaykh Zakir Bekitc (d.2005) who received his ijazah in the Badawiyyah while in while living
in North Africa.
Throughout the Ottoman age, Sufism in the Balkans demonstrated a number of undercurrents
that gave it a distinctive quality. Firstly, nearly all of the shaykhs of the stalwartly Shari’ah-
centred tariqats of the Khalwatiyyah, Naqshbandiyyah, and Qadiriyyah belonged to the
highest rank of the ‘ulama’ class. The many shaykhs who brought tariqats into the Balkans
were, for the most part, schooled in the influential theological institutions (madrasahs) of
Istanbul, Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus and Madinah. This detail may have given a few of these
fraternities an exclusive streak. Scores of affiliates of the tariqats (particularly the
Mawlawiyyah and Bektashiyyah) were inexhaustible writers of prose and theology who wrote
not only in Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman but also in the vernacular. For instance, Umar
Kashari, who was shaykh of the Qadiriyyah, developed the first Albanian-Turkish lexicon in
1804. Such figures in Balkan Sufism were ranked among the most scholarly and academic in
the Muslim World at that time.
For the common Muslim inhabitant of the Balkan provinces the societal background in which
they lived determined the allure of specific tariqats. In the urban centres of Greece, Bulgaria,
Macedonia and Serbia (which were primarily Turkish speaking) the Khalwatiyyah, Rifa’iyyah
and Qadiriyyah proved to be readily affable for those who wished to follow a spiritual path.
The vociferous and physically powerful dhikrs of these tariqats unquestionably held
particular appeal to the masses, as opposed to the more subdued ceremonies of the
Naqshbandiyyah and the highly intellectual philosophies of the Mawlawiyyah. Furthermore
these three particular tariqats remained inside the conventional Sunni worldview (unlike the
Bektashis for example) that made them free of social stigmatization.
The condition in rural areas, often far removed from the learning institutions of the
establishment, was quite different. The tariqats that were prevalent tended to have heterodox
and syncretistic leanings. In order to smooth the progress of transition from Christianity to
Islam, population often held on to elements of the old ways (which were often of pre-Christian
in origin themselves). For instance, the Hamzawiyyah attained substantial influence along
the rural localities of the Drina River valley in the 16th century, a time shortly after the
population of the area converted to Islam. The 14th century religio-political movement of
Badr al-Din Simavi was restricted to the backwoods of the Bulgaria. Although the Ottoman
government eventually broke up both of these associations, many of their ideas are believed to
have filtered into the Bektashiyyah, a tariqat that held immense authority over large parts of
the rustic Balkans.
It was destroyed by the Greeks in the 1920's.
The decline of the Sufi tariqats in the Balkans mirrored the out-and-out cave in of Ottoman
rule. The first lands to go were the Danubian provinces of Hungary and Slavonia, which had
by the early part of the 18th century been completely cleansed of its Muslim population. The
spiritual institutions that had once been a vibrant part of Islamic existence in these areas
vanished during this holocaust. In the previously Muslim-dominated district of Serbia,
Greece, and Bulgaria, the residue of Ottoman institutions no longer survive owing to the
fierce eradication tactics of Orthodox Christian bigotry. In contrast, the end of Ottoman rule
in Bosnia-Hercegovina in 1878 did not, however, result in the end of Sufism in the area.
Although greatly disturbed by mass migrations of an extensive portion of the Muslim
population, a number of Sufi shaykhs managed to establish new centres of influence in
Bosnia. For instance, the Naqshbandi-Khalidiyyah was introduced into central Bosnia by
Mufti Shaykh Husnija Numanagic (d.1931), and the Khalwati-Sha’baniyyah of Shaykh
Sejfudin Iblizovic (d.1889) started tekkes in the north-eastern parts of the country. During
the Austro-Hungarian occupation, Sufis were allowed to keep up contacts with their brethren
elsewhere in the Muslim World. Examples of this can be seen the travels of the two most
important Kosovar shaykhs of the time, Hadzi Kadri and Musa Muslih al-Din. These two men
journeyed to Hapsburg Bosnia and met with local Sufis there in the early 1900’s.
Similarly a few Bektashi babas from Kosova were in contact with the small community of
Albanian Bektashis that inhabited Sarajevo. This condition remained relatively stable during
the decades of the first Yugoslav state (1918-1941). Nevertheless the continual migration of
many Muslims from Bosnia, led to the rapid decline of several orders. By the 1930’s the
Khalwatiyyah had essentially vanished from Bosnia-Hercegovina, and by the end of WWII
they had not a single tekke in operation. And while both the Naqshbandiyyah and Qadiriyyah
continued to function, they were limited in scope to the solidly Muslim areas of central
Bosnia.
Following the conclusion of WWII and the setting up of communist rule over Yugoslavia, a
period of general deterioration marked the all tariqat organization. In 1952 their activities
were prohibited in Bosnia-Hercegovina, not as might be thought by the communist
government, but by the modernist minded `ulama of the government sanctioned Islamic
Community, who saw the fraternities and their shaykhs as a leftover from archaic
superstition and innovation. As a result all tekkes were formally closed in Bosnia-
Hercegovina, but they continued to function in Kosova and Macedonia merely because the
shaykhs’ dwellings were often the tekke itself.
This prohibition continued in place until the early 1970’s, when, thanks to the efforts of
several well-known academics in the Muslim community (markedly the Qadiri-Mawlawi
shaykh and imam Fejzulah Hadzibajric (d.1990) and the Rifa’i shaykh of Prizren, Xhemali
Shehu (d.2004) a successful effort was made to rejuvenate Sufism in Yugoslavia. In 1974 the
Community of Islamic Dervish Orders of the SFRY (ZIDRA) was created as an umbrella
organization to advance the study and practice of tasawwuf. With this association in place,
the confines that were earlier placed on dervish activities in Bosnia-Hercegovina were
disregarded and ignored. By the 1980’s Sufism and its role in Bosnian culture was given
substantial notice in Islamic periodicals and journals, further reinforcing the authenticity of
the movement.
During the wars that racked Yugoslavia from 1991 to 1995, the tariqats and their followers
played an active role in the defence of Bosnia’s Muslim community against the Serb and Croat
onslaught. Shaykhs of both the Naqshbandi and Qadiri tariqats formed many of their
dervishes into fighting units that took to the fronts (especially in central Bosnian and along
the Brcko corridor). The present situation for Sufism in Bosnia-Hercegovina is largely
optimistic. Never having had the stigma of heresy attached to it, Bosnian Sufism is recognized
on the whole by both the religious establishment (many of whose affiliates are openly
involved in the tariqats) and the laity. One of the more recently active shaykhs is the
Naqshibandi Halil Brzina who has a very large following and a new tekke opened in Sarajevo.
The Hadzimejlic family also continues to provide severl shaykhs of the Naqshibandi Order.
With the exception of the Wahhabi presence that now plagues Bosnia owing to its
missionaries from Arab countries, the authenticity of Islamic mysticism in Bosnia has never
been questioned, both during the Ottoman period and at the present time.
In Kosova, the post-Ottoman state of affairs was similar to that in Bosnia-Hercegovina. With
the exception of the Serb onslaught of 1912-13 and the 1952 prohibition on tariqat activities,
Sufism continued to thrive unabated. Though certain tariqats vanished by the start of the
Second World War (for example the Mawlawiyyah), others actually grew in influence. During
the 1970’s the Rifa’iyyah came to dominate the spiritual setting in the former Yugoslavia
because of the inexhaustible efforts of Shaykh Xhemali Shehu of the Prizren tekke. Other
surviving orders in Kosova included the Sa’diyyah, Qadiriyyah and the Khalwati-
Karabasiyyah. The Bektashiyyah had a humble tekke in the town of Gjakova in what was an
otherwise sea of Kosovar Sunnism.
The degree to which the latest Serbian aggression in Kosova damaged tariqat institutions is
unclear. In the summer of 1998, however, the beloved 76 year-old shaykh of the Karabasis of
Orahovac, Muhedin Shehu, was shot dead by Serb paramilitaries, while trying to defend
several hundred refugees who sought shelter in his spacious tekke complex. It was also
reported that Serb irregulars also murdered the shaykh of the Sa’diyyah in the town of
Gjakova, Shaykh Dervisdana.
Though not having had to experience the anguish of Bosnia or Kosova, tariqats in Macedonia
have primarily suffered from the constant exodus of the Muslim population to Turkey. By the
1930’s many tekkes in Turkish-dominated regions of central and eastern Macedonia stood
deserted as a result of these population shifts. Today one can still find the intact türbes of
shaykhs in areas where Muslims no longer form an element of the demographic make-up.
These sights are often given considerable veneration by the local Christian population.
The tariqat that experienced the greatest decline was the Khalwatiyyah, which was
represented in Macedonia in its Sinaniyyah, Hayatiyyah, and Jarrahiyyah branches. Of these
only the Hayatiyyah remains functioning in the Albanian regions of western Macedonia. The
Rifa’iyyah and Sa’diyyah continue to operate through out the eastern part of the country
where they are basically in the hands of Roma (Gypsies). The Bektashiyyah also has small
communities in the Albanian towns of Gostivar, Kicevo, and Tetova as well among the
Turkish-speaking communities of Kanatlar and Strumica. In recent years the Bektashiyyah in
Macedonia have been in the public eye, with their take over of a portion of their old tekke in
Tetova, which had been transformed into a hotel and disco during the communist era.
Elsewhere in the post-Ottoman Balkans, activities of the tariqats are virtually non-existent.
In Albania, the largest tariqats prior to the end of the Second World War were the
Bektashiyyah and the Khalwatiyyah, but the Tijaniyyah, Rifa’iyyah, Qadiriyyah and Sa’diyyah
were also present throughout the country. The Bektashiyyah played a leading role during the
inter-war years and the world headquarters of the tariqat was moved from Anatolia to Tirana
following Atatürk’s abolition of Sufi fraternities in Turkey. Members of the Tijaniyyah, Rifa’
iyyah, and Qadiriyyah formed an umbrella organization in the 1930’s known as the Drita
Hynorë (Heavenly Light). Similarly various Khalwatiyyah branches created the Kryesia e
Sektë Alevijanë (The Centre of the Alevite Sect) that organized annual conferences and
gatherings.
In the 1950’s harsh restrictions were placed on Albanian tariqats (and religion in general).
All of them were authoritatively detached from the Sunni mainstream by the communist
government. Each tariqat was recognized as a “religion” unto itself in an obvious attempt by
the government to “divide and rule”. Ultimately, Enver Hoxha declared all religious belief
anathema and it was formally banned altogether in 1967. Countless members of clergy of all
faiths were put to death, imprisoned, or forced into hiding. However, in the face of these
draconian measures, many families kept Sufi traditions alive in secret, and those shaykhs
who went underground continued to teach, even with the knowledge of the consequences if
caught.
By the time the ban on religion was rescinded in 1991, only the Bektashiyyah and
Khalwatiyyah had individuals who were shaykhs prior to the 1967 ban still living. The latter
made attempts to restore itself in the country under the leadership of Shaykh Muamer Pazari,
but the modern Khalwatiyyah tariqat holds a paltry rank in contemporary Albanian Sufism.
The Rifa’i tariqat was also rejuvenated during this time and an active centre was established
in a former Qadiri tekke in Tirana. Through the work of Shaykh Xhemali of Prizren, the order
has constructed tekkes in Tirana, Shkodra, and Berat. The Bektashiyyah was noticeably more
fortunate. The headquarters of the tariqat was returned by the government (it was a home
for the elderly in communist times), and the few remaining babas set about instructing once
more. The Bektashiyyah has managed to a significant body of supporters and it currently
issues a monthly magazine Urtësia. The present head of the order in Albania, the dedebaba,
is Reshat Bardhy.
It is also worth noting that the Tijani Order had a well-felt presence among the higher Sunni
clergy, including the current grand-mufti, Hafiz Sabri Koçi (d.2004).
Little is known at this time of the situation of the tariqats in Bulgaria, whose Muslim
community suffered through a terrible pogrom during the 1980’s. In the pre-WWII period,
the Khalwatiyyah, Bektashiyyah, Naqshbandiyyah, Shadhiliyyah, Qadiriyyah and
Mawlawiyyah survived, but few endured the anti-Muslim assimilation campaigns of the
communist period. Nevertheless, Muslims still visit the graves of an assortment of saints, a
fact that points to some form of survival. In Greece, at least two Bektashi tekkes functioned
in Thessaly well up into the 1950’s (though its Muslim community had long since
disappeared) and there are today some remaining Bektashi communities among the Turks of
Western Thrace.
Balkan Sufism and the Western World
It is significant to be aware that the first Sufi tekke to be established in North America was
the First American Albanian Bektashian Monastery. This centre was founded in a suburb of
Detroit in the early 1950's by the venerable Baba Rexhep (d.1995), a native of the southern
Albanian town of Gjirokastër. An extraordinary figure, Baba Rexhep managed to safeguard
the Bektashi identity of many Albanian Muslims despite the pressures from the anti-religious
programs of his native land and the pull of assimilation in the United States. Over the
decades the tekke expanded in size and membership. Following the death of Baba Rexhep,
the tekke was placed under the directorship of Baba Flamur Shkalla, an energetic young
shaykh who served his community until 2003. In 2002 Baba Flamur received the rank of
khalifababa from the Turkish dedebaba, Mustafa Eke. This caused considerable concern
from the Albanian dedebablik (since the Turkish and Albanian Bektashis do not recognize
each other’s administrative structure) which led to Baba Flamur’s resignation from the
Detroit tekke. He was replaced in 2004 by Baba Xhemali.
In the late 1970’s the Rifa’iyyah gained its first presence in the United States with the
establishment of a modest centre in the Washington D.C. headed by Dr. Asaf Duraković, who
was a khalifah of both Shaykh Xhemali of Prizren and the Khalwati-Hayatiyyah branch of
Macedonia. The Rifa’is subsequently expanded in the 1980’s and 1990’s to include centres in
New York, Staten Island, Toronto, Chicago and Cleveland.
Also, it is important to note the recent activity of two non-Balkan Sufi Orders into the region.
The Khalwati-Jarrahiyyah (which had a considerable presence in the southern Balkans
during the late Ottoman period) began conducting a program to assist Bosnian students
achieve higher education in the United States in the early 1990’s. In addition, a history of the
Jarrahiyyah and their past shaykhs has been translated into Bosnian. This may help establish
some presence of the order in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Lastly, the Naqshbandi-Haqqani branch
of Shaykh Nazim al-Qubrusi has begun to develop a following in both Bosnia-Hercegovina and
Albania. This shaykh has made several visits to these countries in recent times and several
compilations of his speeches have been translated into Bosnian. A sizable group of his
followers is currently establishing a Haqqani tekke in Sarajevo.
