OPEN LETTER/ Come to the dialogue and listen to me speak, otherwise I will cut off your scholarships, you will rot in prison. Please!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

Father Mondi for 'La Repubblica': If religion mixes with politics and business, it is no longer religion, but...

2024-11-17 13:15:59Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Father Mondi for 'La Repubblica': If religion mixes with politics and
Father World

The Italian media, La Repubblica, has devoted an article to the creation of the Bektashti state in our country, calling it a bookish path to Islam.

The Bektashi community, which was persecuted by Ataturk in Turkey and by Hoxha in Albania, has a special relationship with Prime Minister Rama, who now wants to provide him with a Holy See to combine religion and democracy, the article's introduction says. , while then follows as follows.

The dome of the great temple, the Odeon, stands between Mount Dajti and the blocks of old communist Tirana.

In front of a centuries-old Koran, Baba Mondi offers his visitors tea, coffee and brandy, the alcohol of the Balkans, in what could become the smallest country in the world, a kind of "Muslim Vatican".

The Quran says: drink and eat what you want, but do not overdo it. Ours is the religion of peace and progress", smiles this former Albanian army officer, Edmond Brahimaj, 64, a Muslim believer who since 2011 has been the spiritual leader of the Bektashis, a Sufi community that combines Islam with mysticism and preaches a liberal version of Muhammad's religion: no ban on drinking alcohol, no imposition on dress, gender equality, yes to divorce, no to consanguineous marriage but no restrictions ”, religion separated from politics. And the man in the center: " He who knows himself, knows God ".

Edi Rama, the histrionic prime minister of the Albanian list, now wants to give state sovereignty to the Bektashi order in those hectares of land cultivated with meadows, olive trees, where the dervishes dress in white and welcome you curiously, yes and faithfully, and retire two days a week for secret rituals, those reserved only for the clergy.

Rama's lawyers are working to define the project, Baba Mondi says carefully : "We will not be like the Vatican. We won't have Swiss guards or army, we don't want to build walls or draw borders, we want legal recognition because for now we are just an NGO".

"It means being able to issue passports and having a diplomatic status that allows Bektashis to establish autonomous relations with other countries and religious communities. In a word: to have more impact. Always within the limits of the Albanian law", explains Ana, with her long hair slipping over her black suit, high heels and little. lipstick.

She embraced Bektashism a few years ago, after a difficult period, and now represents its new voice in Brussels: "We share common values ​​and principles for human rights with Europe."

Born in the 13th century, Bektashism was the religion of the Ottoman military elite, spread throughout Western Asia.

When Ataturk founded the secular Republic of Turkey, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Bektashis fled to Albania, participating in the "Albanian Spring", in the resistance against the empire: school books in the Albanian language were secretly circulating in their monasteries.

The project is part of the overall plan to modernize the country, to make it a kind of forbidden Dubai of the Balkans.

The tekke itself gave shelter to Jews: at the end of World War II, Albania was one of the few European countries with a larger Jewish community than it had before the conflict.

With communism came the night: during the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, the Bektashis were arrested and persecuted, their properties were seized, their houses were destroyed, but they resisted clandestinely.

The dusk light enters through the temple windows, twelve like the twelve hoxhallars. Wrapped in a green cape, a long beard that testifies to his detachment from the things of this world, Baba Mondi seems to return with pain to that past: " We prayed in secret, disguising the gatherings as birthdays or children's parties and so we have preserved the traditions." John Paul II was the first Pope to cross the borders of Albania after the fall of the last Stalinist regime in Europe.

"He said that if there had been no Bektashi, there would not have been any Albanians left ," recalls the cleric who has a correct idea of ​​political Islam: " If religion mixes with politics and business, it is no longer a religion. Yes, it is power.”

Today it is estimated that 5 to 10% of the Albanian population are Bektashi.

Rama's proposal has received support, even if some have described it as another publicity stunt of the prime minister and some others have raised dissatisfaction: like the representatives of the Sunni community.


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×