Sufism has always marked the practice of Islam in the Balkans, since the Ottoman conquest, especially through the implantation of brotherhood networks. With the withdrawal of the Ottomans, from the end of the 17th up to the beginning of the 20th century, part of these networks disappeared, since a lot of their members either perished in the wars or fled to Turkey. Another part of these networks remained - especially on the western side of the Peninsula - and continued to regulate the religious as well as the social life of significant Muslim groups. However, in the latter half of the 20t h century, the communist regimes in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania endeavoured to weaken the religious institutions. In Albania, they were even completely dismantled by the authorities in 1967

Clayer, N.

Popovic, A.

Leiden University Scholary Publications

Regional issues3 2 I S I M  N E W S L E T T E R  3 / 9 9B a l k a n sN A TH AL I E  C L A Y E RAL E X A N D R E  P O P O V I CSufism has always marked the practice of Islam in theBalkans, since the Ottoman conquest, especiallythrough the implantation of brotherhood networks.With the withdrawal of the Ottomans, from the endof the 17t h up to the beginning of the 20t h c e n t u r y ,part of these networks disappeared, since a lot oftheir members either perished in the wars or fled toTurkey. Another part of these networks remained –especially on the western side of the Peninsula – andcontinued to regulate the religious as well as the so-cial life of significant Muslim groups. However, in thelatter half of the 20t h century, the communist regimesin Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania en-deavoured to weaken the religious institutions. In Al-bania, they were even completely dismantled by theauthorities in 1967.A New Era for Sufi Trends int h e B a l k a n sSince the fall of the Berlin Wall, the newpolitical situation is fraught with ‘positive’consequences for Muslims in the Balkans:liberty of expression and of circulation, in-tensification of contacts with the Muslimworld, and the possibility for foreign mis-sionaries to come and proselyte. On theother hand, these Muslims, and their Christ-ian neighbours, are confronted with ex-tremely troubled economic and social situa-tions, and even with conflicts – sometimesarmed (e.g. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo).Religious practices, those of the Sufis in par-ticular, are dependent on developments inlocal history, as well as on the present polit-ical and social context in each country or re-gion. We will not give here a complete anddetailed panorama of the Sufi reality in theBalkans of today (whose importance is quitelimited in comparison with the size of localMuslim communities), but rather shall try toemphasize the main characteristics of itsevolution – from the surviving ancient net-works to the appearance of new ones. The weight of the pastIn the eastern part of the Peninsula, in Bul-garia, Romania and Greece (i.e. WesternThrace), ancient Sufi networks have been al-most totally destroyed in the 20t h c e n t u r y ,except for the special case of the Alevi-Kizil-bash communities, which in fact have theirown heterodox and syncretistic religion. Onthe western side, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, itseems that the Sufi tradition, which despitemuch suffering since the end of the Ot-toman domination, survived mainly throughMathnawi ‘lessons’, m e v l u d ceremonies andthe activities of a few Nakshbandi t e k k es andRifa‘i and Kadiri circles. This tradition has ex-perienced a certain revival in the last years.Did the Sufi members play a role, as such, inthe recent events? This we do not know, butSufism and Sufi networks could have beenutilized for certain political and ideologicalreasons. In the other ex-Yugoslav provinces,that is to say in Kosovo and Macedo-n i a , where the bulk of the Muslim populationspeaks Albanian (and not Slavic as in Bosniaand Herzegovina), the Dervish brotherhoodswere, to a certain extent, less challengedthan those in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Especiallyin the second half of the 1970s, a Rifa‘ishaykh of Prizren had the possibility to givea new impetus to the local t u r u q, by unifyingthem within an organization, and by usingthe funds offered by emigrant workers. Nev-ertheless, in these regions, an interestingphenomenon is the appearance of gypsynetworks, whose members are often insearch of a greater legitimacy within theMuslim society. Although these networksare linked with different t u r u q ( H a l v e t i y y e ,Rifa‘iyye, Sa‘diyye, etc.), we have to admitthat the practice of rites tend to be homoge-nized, with the i j r a h, a very spectacular ritualof mortifications, becoming for all of themthe central point of the d h i k r.The case of Albania differs greatly for tworeasons. There, the Sufi current, which con-tinued to flourish even after the end of Ot-toman domination, was totally smotheredduring the communist period, as were all re-ligious manifestations. The second reason isthat, one of the Sufi brotherhoods – the fer-vent heterodox and syncretistic Bektashiyye– became an independent religious com-munity alongside the Sunni community.When, at the end of 1990, religious practiceswere re-authorized by the government, theBektashi community as well as the othermystical brotherhoods tried to re-establishthemselves. Descendants of shaykhs first re-built t ü r b es (mausoleums) in order to regainlegitimacy via the saints’ b a r a k a and there-by to obtain believers’ donations for financ-ing. Some of them then attempted to gath-er small congregations and to perform ritu-als. Certain new ‘shaykhs’ came to behelped by Albanian Sufi shaykhs from Koso-vo, as was the case for the Rifa‘iyye, or forthose from other regions. It is often like aslow re-apprenticeship of practices anddoctrines, as can be witnessed in the Kadirit e k k e of Tirana, where in 1993 men and un-veiled women performed the d h i k r in thesame circle, while two years later there wasalready a clear segregation of men andwomen during these ritual prayers; the lat-ter wearing white veils for the occasion. Thei l a h i (religious hymns) had also beenlearned and sung to greater perfection. Recent evolutionsHowever, besides the restoration or con-solidation of ancient networks, three impor-tant evolutions in the Balkan Sufi sceneryare noteworthy: first was the introduction ofnew networks, via ‘missionaries’ who cometo the Balkans, as well as the young BalkanMuslims who go to study in different Mus-lim countries where some establish contactswith Sufi groups; and second was the intro-duction and development of movements inthe region, which can generally be consid-ered as ‘neo-brotherhoods’, such as the Sü-leymanjis or the Nurjus-Fethullahjis, bothhaving originated from Turkey and havingbeen issued from the Nakshbandiyye. Forexample, the Süleymanjis are implanted inAlbania, where they have begun religiousclasses and have opened a Turkish-Albanianreligious centre. The followers of FethullahGülen, for example, extended their networkand activities in various countries such asRomania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania.They are publishing local editions of theirnewspaper (Z a m a n) and have opened pri-vate secondary schools – in some cases alsoreligious schools. The third important evolution is Shiiteproselytism, which is particularly effectiveamong Sufi milieus of the Western Balkans.In fact, in the same way that they are tryingto introduce their doctrine in Turkeyamong the Alevi groups, the Shiites areworking to diffuse Shiism in the Balkans, es-pecially through the re-emerging Sufi net-works. In Albania, for example, the Shiitesapproached the representatives of the Bek-tashis, the Halvetis, the Rifa‘is and otherSufi brotherhoods (whose mystical knowl-edge is as poor as their financial means).They help them to publish Shiite-orientedbooks and offer fellowships to allow foryoung Albanians to study in Iran. In Kosovoand Macedonia, Shiite groups from Iran aswell as from Western Europe get in touchalso with Muslims who are now convincedof seeing in Shiism the ‘true Islam’ of thethird stage, which is to succeed Sufi Islam –itself considered the second stage afterSunni Islam.It is difficult to know how the Sufi cur-rents, which remain somewhat marginalwith respect to the mainstream of Islam,will develop in the Balkan Peninsula in thefuture. Already it is clear that they have en-tered a new era. The Muslim community ofthese regions is closer to the rest of theU m m a than before. New trends are beingintroduced, not only from the East as in thepast, but also from the Muslim diasporas ofWestern Europe. The Sufi networks in theBalkans will certainly carry out the sametransformations that were undergone inother parts of the Muslim world concerningthe adaptation of their social role in mod-ern society. Furthermore, internally, be-cause of the important political changes,they will have to re-position themselves vis-à-vis the new Muslim religious (and politi-cal) authorities. ♦Dr Nathalie Clayer is researcher at the CNRS, Paris,France. Dr Alexandre Popovic is senior researcher at theCNRS, Paris, France.E-mail: clayer@ehess.frB e k t a s h i - d e r v i s hin Korçë,S o u t hA l b a n i a .

A New Era for Sufi Trends in the Balkans

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A New Era for Sufi Trends in the Balkans

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