It wa Eid al-Fitr or Bajram duing a cold, frosty winter day in 1945. In the mosque of Bare in Shala, Bajgora, comes the sad news that Serbian-Chetnik-communist gangs, together with a brigade of the Bulgarian army, have set off towards Shala to commit a massacre.
Mulla Mustafa interrupts the Eid sermon and addresses the congregation with these words:
“Today is Eid, a holy day, but we will not eat lunch in our homes, but everyone who has a weapon, young and old, will set out for Picel in Bajgora. There we will encounter infidels who have neither faith nor faith, nor do they know what family is.
There we will fight and perhaps many of us will be killed, but we will not let the Kaur invade our lands. When we win the war and drive back the enemies, then we will return to celebrate Eid in our homes. Whoever calls himself an Albanian, follow me!”.
Hilmi Saraçi writes:
“Mulla Mustafa Fazliu-Barja was born in 1880 in the village of Vidishiq in Shala e Bajgora and passed away in 1968. He headed the “maktaba” and the “Isa Beg” madrasa in Mitrovica. Mulla Mustafa was known as a religious man and a patriot. He was fluent in Arabic, Turkish and Persian. He knew Arabic grammar (surf) and syntax (nahvi) well.
He was also well-versed in the science of “Fiqh” and “Faraidi” which deals with inheritance according to the provisions of Sharia and strictly adhered to the teachings of the Hanafi school – he was also familiar with the science of “tawsir” and “hadith”, therefore he was quite prepared as a religious man and patriot, but also a well-known brave man. He is known for his debate and opposition to a missionary from India who had come to Mitrovica in 1936, who distorted the interpretation of the Islamic religion.
He had taken refuge in the house of Sherif Voca and opposed (rejected) all Islamic legal schools and said about their founders: “Humur-rijhal ve nahnur-rijhal”, which means: “They are men, and we are men too”. None of the hoxhollars of Mitrovica and Vushtrri had the courage to oppose him, with the exception of Mulla Mustafa, who publicly in the house of Sherif Voca, in the presence of many hoxhollars and leaders, opposed the missionary from India, leaving him without comment, forcing him to kneel and admit that what he claimed was not so, that the reality was completely different.
On that occasion Sherif Voca had stood up and said: “Where are you, hoxho of Shala, you are the hoxho of India”!… After this debate, the Indian missionary had no place left in Mitrovica and he immediately left and went to Albania…
After World War II, all religious schools (madrasas) were closed, only to reopen in 1952 with the “Alaudin” madrasa in Prishtina. During this ban, Mulla Mustafa transformed his room into a kind of madrasa from which many well-known hoxhollars emerged, although religious education was prohibited by law by the government. In 1956, when the mass migration of Albanians to Turkey began, people came to the hoxha and asked him about emigration.
The hoxha answered them with the words: “Look with me, until there is only one Albanian in Kosovo, I will stay here, and when there is none left, then I will go after them”. Mulla Mustafa was a great opponent of this idea.
With his authority, he influenced that at that time no one from Shala e Bajgora would emigrate, with the exception of only two families. He was a comrade-in-arms and friend of Ahmet Selaci (a well-known commander against the communist system), with whom he distinguished himself as a great fighter against the invaders of the Albanian people.
Mulla Mustafa Barja, as an ideologist and great brave man, in the Bara mosque during the “vajzi” (lecture) in front of the “jamaat” had openly criticized and attacked the communist system. His stance against the communist regime can be seen in the certificate of confirmation from the Secretariat for Internal Affairs (UDBA) in Mitrovica, no. 3365 dated 23. VII. 1952, which states:
“The above-mentioned person is listed among the enemies, because he said that the communists and their war should be fought” (the above-mentioned person is listed among the enemies, because he said that the communists and their war should be fought)…”
References
https://www.zemrashqiptare.net/news/57162/rp-0/act-print/rf-1/printo.html
https://www.mesazhi.com/mulla-mustafe_fazliu_vidishiqi-1880-1968/
