In the aftermath of the hideous massacre in Orlando on June 12,
relations between Muslims and Westerners seem to have reached their
lowest point in decades, if not centuries. The so-called “Islamic
State” (ISIS) employs what the Italian Holocaust writer Primo Levi
called “the weapons of night” — terror bombings, mass murder, sadistic
tortures and executions.
At moments like Orlando, moderate Muslims feel no less dismayed and
discouraged than do non-Muslims. Even the kindest and best-intentioned
non-Muslims look at the Muslim believers with understandable fear.
So many Muslims
have rallied to the spurious appeal of ISIS it seems often, to both
moderate Muslims and sympathetic non-Muslims, that the voice of
rationality has been stilled within Islam. Global media have failed to
identify and explain to humanity how Muslim moderates fight against
terror. Muslim leaders have been deficient in presenting their
histories and arguments.
There is
nothing to be gained from ignoring how many Americans will blame some
intrinsic evil in the faith of Islam for the bloodshed in Orlando, like
that in San Bernardino last year, at the Boston Marathon in 2013, and in
other terrorist incidents since 2001, reaching cities in Europe,
Africa, the Middle East, and southeast Asia.
Yet I do not believe there is an “Islam problem.” An internal
contradiction within Islam sets off the majority against the extremist
minority. Cool-headed Western leaders emphasize that defeating terror
is impossible without alliances with millions of moderate, conventional,
traditional, spiritual, and even conservative Muslims, in
Muslim-minority communities as well as Muslim-majority countries.
Still, the
carnage continues. The dictatorship of Bashar Al-Assad, with Iranian
help, murders Syrian Sunnis. ISIS produces social media depicting
beheadings and worse. Refugees plead for help from Turkey and the
European Union.
With each new
atrocity, the planetary split between Muslims and non-Muslims grows
wider. Both sides abandon hope. But panic is bad counsel. Fear when
confronted with a violent threat will induce many prospective victims to
surrender or flee. An end to the horror may only come when moderate
Muslims and non-Muslims form a united effort against hate, social
conflict, and sectarian divisions. The alternative is a horror without
end.
Where is a
common front against tyranny within Islam? Muslim leaders in France,
Germany, and Morocco have demonstrated their commitment to defeat of the
radicals. But a more important lesson comes to us from the Albanian
lands, including Albania proper, Kosovo, and areas of Western Macedonia,
Montenegro, and South Serbia.
The Albanians
comprise six religions, aside from non-believers. In Albania, at least
60 percent are Sunni Muslims, a share that rises to 95 percent in
Kosovo, according to the CIA World Fact Book. An unknown share
of Albanian Islam is occupied by Bektashism, a Sufi sect whose members
are the only indigenous Shia Muslims in Europe. About 10 percent of
Albanians are Roman Catholic, with Albanian Orthodox Christians
accounting for 10-15 percent. Jews and Protestants make up the rest.
The Albanians
have a secret: they have never let religion divide them. But Catholics
and Bektashis led the “national awakening” of the 19th century,
resulting in Albanian independence from the Ottoman empire in 1912.
In the weeks
leading to the homicidal frenzy in Orlando, Albanians and their relation
to radical Islam was, briefly, a widely-discussed topic. Media
reported that ISIS had taken over Kosovo and made it a bridge-head to
the indoctrination and recruitment of terrorists in Europe.
At the
beginning of May, nevertheless, Albania declared nine local men guilty
of recruiting for ISIS. The group was detained by Albanian authorities
in March 2014 after the country criminalized participation in foreign
military adventures. The accused were found to have sent 70 Albanian
Muslims to fight in Syria and were sentenced to 128 years in prison.
Their leader, Bujar Hysa, was jailed for 18 years.
When June
arrived, a Kosovo-based institution, InterfaithKosovo, held its fifth
annual conference. The 2016 meeting focused on the role of women in
opposing extremism. These incredibly-valuable and little-discussed
events bring together participants in all religious communities, from
countries as diverse as Georgia in the Caucasus, Serbia — represented by
human rights activists as well as Serbian Orthodox clerics from Kosovo —
Israel, Cuba, and Italy.
The
InterfaithKosovo annual meetings demonstrate that regardless how much
alarmist rhetoric is spread regarding ISIS and the Albanians, Kosovo and
its authorities remain committed to tranquil and humanistic dialogue in
the face of fanatical violence.
Finally, back
in America, the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center in Staten Island, NY,
marked the beginning of the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan, at
the end of May, by hosting a photographic exhibit, developed in
cooperation with Hebrew Union College and the Jewish Institute of
Religion, along with Wagner College in New York, on the rescue of Jews
in Albania during the Holocaust. The AICC of Staten Island is headed by
a prominent moderate, Imam Tahir Kukaj.
The Albanian
Muslims represent a faint ray of light visible through the darkness of
blood and hate that has enveloped Islam. They possess a spirit
unalterably opposed to the intolerance of ISIS and other such groups.
Albanians are a small nation too long disregarded and ignored. It is
time for them to take their proper place in the forefront of defending
civilization, Islam, and coexistence between neighbors. Their light
should burn brightly, visible to the world.
Correction: A previous version of this post stated the Orlando massacre occurred on May 12. It occurred on June 12.
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