Sami Frasheri
“The fırst considerations on this topic initiated along with the emer ge nce of Albanian national movement in the second half of the 19th century. Investigating the roots of Albanians in history the well-known Ottoman encyclopedist of Albanian origin Sami Frasheri1 (Şemsettin Sami) believes that the islamizatian process in Albanian lands started after the establishment of the Ottoman rule.
The author considered it as a mark of loyalty of Albanians to the Ottoman regime in order to improve their social and fiscal position. S. Frasheri argues that there is in the character of Albanians to change master and to accept the rule of the strongest. So, Albanians converted because they wanted to benefit from the opportunities offered by the Ottoman State.”
Anthropological study of Albanians by Jakov Milaj
“In his anthropological study of Albanians, Jakov Milaj, examining the place of faith in the Albanian social life, considers Albanian society as a society with strong pagan remnants. Thus, he believes that Christianity and Islam had only a superficial impact without a significant effect on the pagan beliefs of Albanians.
The anthor attempts to explain the spread of Islam among Albanians as a result of the specific social and historical conditions in a particular segment of time. In general, the works of the fırst period are of modest scope. Sometimes, they are limited to a few paragraphs in books written on the history of Albania or the Balkan Peninsula. Based on personal observations or opinions, they sametimes were written just for political goals.
Nevertheless toward the end of this period we see some advance in terrns of preparing the terrain for scientific introductury works. We can say that only in the years before the World War II the penetration of Islam in Albanian lands and the process of islamizatian became a real and independent topic of study.”
H. N. Brailsford
“In his work on the peoples living in Macedonia written at the beginning of the 20th century, H. N. Brailsford devotes a chapter to Albanians and their material and spiritual life. Although he provides only a superficial description of the Albanian character based on personal contacts and opinions, being the special envoy of English government in this region, he helps us with some interesting observations about the place and the role of religion in Albanian life.
According to Brailsford, Albanians, unlike Slavs, had no church bound up with their sense of nationality. Canceming the massive canversion of Albanians to Islam, he said, “this act was either the hope of gain or the fear of loss, having an enormous consequence politically, … but its effects on their habits of thought and even on their social life have been of the slightest.”
Ndoc Nikaj
Ndoc Nikaj, an Albanian Catholic priest, has the merit of being the only Albanian histarian of Catholic background, who accepts the fact that Albanians were islamized not only by force, but also to gain material advantages. Although only a few paragraphs in his book are devoted to the problem of islamization of Albanian people, he argues the differences in the proportion of converted population according to the native people lived in the high or lowlands.
Jovan Hadzivasiljevic
“Jovan Hadzivasiljevcs extensive essal on the islamization of Kosovo and Macedonia (called South Serbia) is an anthropological survey of this area during the years of Balkan Wars and the World War I. Although the writer systematically addresses to the problems of the islamization, it is not systematic in terms of its chronology. Hadzivasiljevic defends the idea that the Ottoman State was tolerant in respecting of other religions within the borders of the Empire. Hadzivasiljevic pays attention to the Crypto-christianism as an expressian of loyalty of indigenous people to Christianism. He views the widespread process of islamizatian as a dichotomy, realised by force and by desire, in massive proportion or as individual act. In Kosovo he thinks, the islamizatian was a massive and forceful process.”
Thomas Arnold
The pages devoted to Albania and Kosovo in Thomas Arnold’s well-known book on the spread of Islam and the article of Ettore Rossi on the establishment of Ottoman rule in Albania and the penetration of Islam into Albanian society, can be considered as the fırst scientific introductory works on this complicated problem. These works not only served as reterence for scholars coming next, but they also
were the fırst texts to highlight successfully this issue using Westem sources.
Stavro Skendi
Albanian scholar Stavro Skendi considers the conversion of Albanians to Islam as a means to benefıt from numerous opportunities and advantages provided by the Ottoman state, since the ideologic/political base of the Ottoman Empire was religion, not nationality. So, he claims that the desire of Albanians to escape from the taxes was the principal motive of their conversion to Islam.
Hasan Kaleshi
“Hasan Kaleshi’s article is one of the most important articles published on this topic, although it is not free of some exaggerations. Although the author relies on his acadernic experience, he gives some fascinating ideas worth of testing. According to Kaleshi, on the eve of the Ottoman conquest, the Albanians were facing the danger of Slavic assimilation.
He argues that among Albanians religious feelings are not in general profound, which made them disposed to accept Islam, but Kaleshi provides no explanation of why this fact constituted a strong factor in explaining this complicated question. Although he tak:es in to account the fact that a tribal system prevailed in the social organization of Albanians, he does not deem necessary to analyze this fact.
The author thinks that the conversion of Albanians to Islam was a phenomenon which guaranteed the survival of Albanians from the slavization coming from the North, and hellenization coming from the South. The author adds that the acceptance of Islam by Albanians was a motivated step forward in order to benefıt the advantages provided by the Ottomans”.
Muhamet Ternava
“Muhamet Temava is the fırst Albanian scholar who tried to examıne the islamization process within a limited region. Using a database from the Ottoman cadasıral registers of the Yılçitrio Sancağı in the ısth and the 16th centuries, Temava identifıed the second half of the 15th century as the time when Kosovo’s population began converting to Islam.
The author claims that only Albanians embraced Islam, not the Serbian population of Kosovo, which remained under the influence of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Pec (Peja in Albanian, Ipek in Turkish) Albanian upper class in Kosovo accepted Islam not because of their belief in the Islamic doctrine, but simply because of their interest to protect their well established rights of the time before the Ottoman conquest.
He also believes that the historical data indicate that the Ottomans generally did not use force to convert Albanians to Islam. 30 Temava concludes that the main cause for the islamizatian of Albanians was economic rather than religious, but he did not venture to investigate why Albanians did not resist Ottoman “pressure” as did the Serbs, Greeks and Bulgarians”
Peter Bartl
The German expert of Albanian history, Peter Bartl, devotes the fırst chapter to the islamization process during the early Ottoman rule in his book on the position of Muslims in Albania during the period of Albanian nationalism (1878-1912). Bartl gives some interesting details related to the context of this process, but this part of his book was rather a compilation of facts gathered from secondary sources.
Nedim Filipovic
“Bosnian Muslim expert of the Ottoman history, Nedim Filipovic’s long essay on the islamizatian process in Bosnia and Albania during the fırst centuries of Ottornan rule is the most complete and analytical work ever done on this topic. Filipovic follows Marxist methodology, though he does not neglect new methods, especially the quantitative one. Filipovic has the merit of devoting much to analyzing pre-Ottoman situations in respective countries and of trying to compare the diversities existing among them before dealing with the concrete aspects of islarnization.
He takes into account all elements and factors that likely played a role in the process. Clearly approaching the question within a geopolitical context, the author attempts to analyze canversion to Islam in econornic, social and politic terrns. He approaches this problem as a phenomenon with two protagonists: 1- the native people and 2- the Ottomans. Filipovic’ s article constitutes a good introductory model of analysis, of it s problematics and of complex approaches.”
Skender Rizaj
“Another scholar using Ottoman sources is Skender Rizaj. In his short article he formulates some general opinions, not systematic. Rizaj argues that in the second half of 15th century half of the Albanian people living in the cities were islarnised. Later in the 17thh century, Islam became the prevailing religion even in villages. Albanians actual indifference to religion, the author believes, relates to their strong sense of identity, but he does not give any explanation why this sense of nationality played such a role in the process.”
Safete Juka
“Although Safete Juka’s article ıs not pretentious, the author has the merit of understanding that in order to detect the process of Albanians conversion to Islam it would be necessary to go back in time. But, she does not make an adequate anthropological and sociological analysis of Albanians life and social organization in her explanations.”
Antonina Zeljazkova
Antonina Zeljazkova’s book, published in 1990, constitutes the most comprehensive work on the islamizatian of the Western Balkans (Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo and western Macedonia). Zeljazkova, like Filipovic, writes in accordance with the principles of Marxist methodology. She considers the Ottomans as ultimate responsible for the islamization of the Western Balkans, without taking into consideration local factors. The author regards the islamizatian as a political tool in the hands of Ottomans in order to fulfıl their own empirial ambitions. With the establishment of the communist regime in Albania, for the fırst time in Albanian history, histarical studies were institutionalised and the job of histarian was profesionalized. From that time onwards, the main questions of Albanian history started to be systematically and scientifıcally researched.”
Reference
Balkan Academia 