Islamization of Albania

The Islamization of Albania occurred as a result of the Ottoman conquest of the region beginning in 1385. The Ottomans through their administration and military brought Islam to Albania.

In the first few centuries of Ottoman rule, the spread of Islam in Albania was slow and mainly intensified during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was one of the most significant developments in Albanian history as Albanians in Albania went from being a largely Christian (Catholic and Orthodox) population to one that is mainly Sunni Muslim, while retaining significant ethnic Albanian Christian minorities in certain regions. The resulting situation where Sunni Islam was the largest faith in the Albanian ethnolinguistic area, but other faiths were also present in a regional patchwork, played a major influence in shaping the political development of Albania in the late Ottoman period. Apart from religious changes, conversion to Islam also brought about other social and cultural transformations that have shaped and influenced Albanians and Albanian culture.

Albanians began converting to Islam when they became part of the Ottoman Empire in the late 14th century. Albania differs from other regions in the Balkans such as Bulgaria and Bosnia in that until the 1500s, Islam remained confined to members of the co-opted aristocracy and sparse military outpost settlements of Yuruks. In the early 1430s, Ottoman rule was challenged by Albanian feudal lords from northern and central Albania and the Ottomans responded with two military campaigns. The Albanian defeats resulted in the Ottomans awarding much land to timars from Anatolia and a quarter to Albanians from the elite. The first conversions to Islam by some of the Albanian Christian elite allowed them to retain some previous political and economic privileges, and to join the emerging class of timar or estate holders of the sipahis in the new Ottoman system.

Among some of these aristocratic figures were George Kastrioti (Skanderbeg) who while in the service of the Ottomans was a convert to Islam and later reverted to Christianity during the late 15th century during the northern Albanian uprising he initiated. In doing so, he also ordered others who had embraced Islam or were Muslim colonists to convert to Christianity or face death. Skanderbeg received military assistance from the Kingdom of Naples that sent in 1452 Ramon d’Ortafà who was appointed as viceroy of Albania and tasked with maintaining Catholicism among the local population from the spread of Islam. During the conflicts between Skanderbeg and Ottomans the various battles and raiding pushed Sultan Mehmet II to construct the fortress of Elbasan (1466) in the lowlands to counter resistance coming from the mountain strongholds. During Skanderbeg's uprising, many of the Muslims and Jews in the Vlorë area were killed and some fled to Italy or Istanbul. Prior to and after Skanderbeg's death (1468) parts of the Albanian aristocracy migrated to southern Italy with some number of Albanians to escape the Ottoman conquest whose descendants still reside in many villages they settled. Another Albanian uprising against Ottoman rule happened in 1481.

Even long after the fall of Skanderbeg, large regions of the Albanian countryside frequently rebelled against Ottoman rule, often incurring large human costs, including the decimation of whole villages. In the 1570s, a concerted effort by Ottoman rulers to convert the native population to Islam in order to stop the occurrence of seasonal rebellions began in Elbasan and Reka, and a failed rebellion in 1596 among Catholics in the North preceded a series of heavy punitive measures that induced conversion to Islam. The peak of Islamization in Albania occurred much later than other Islamized or partially Islamized areas: 16th century Ottoman census data showed that sanjaks where Albanians lived remained overwhelmingly Christian with Muslims making up no more than 5% in most areas while during this period Muslims had already risen to large proportions in parts of Bosnia (Bosnia 46%, Herzegovina 43%, urban Sarajevo 100%), Northern Greece (Trikala 17.5%), urban Macedonia (Skopje and Bitola both at 75%) and Eastern Bulgaria (Silistra 72%, Chirmen 88%, Nikopol 22%). Later on, in the 19th century, when the process of Islamization had halted in most of the Balkans it continued to make significant progress in Albania, especially in the South.

In the early period of Ottoman rule, the areas that form contemporary Albania were reorganised into an administrative unit named Sancak-i Arnavid or Sancak-i Arnavud. During the onset of Ottoman rule only prominent churches with significant symbolic meaning or cultural value of an urban settlement were converted into mosques. Most early mosques constructed in Albania were mainly built within fortresses for Ottoman garrisons at times by Ottoman Sultans during their military campaigns in the area like Fatih Sultan Mehmet Mosque in Shkodër, the Red Mosque in Berat and others.

As a rule, Ottoman rule largely tolerated Christian subjects but also discriminated against them, making them second-class citizens with higher taxes and various legal restrictions like being unable to take Muslims to court, have horses, have weapons, or have houses overlooking those of Muslims. While the Ottoman authorities were chronically suspicious of Catholicism, they largely allowed the Orthodox church to function unhindered, except during certain periods when the church was suppressed with expulsions of bishops and seizure of property and revenues. During the Ottoman period, most Christians as well as most Muslims employed a degree of syncretism, still practicing various pagan rites; many of these rites are best preserved among mystical orders like the Bektashi Order.

The Ottoman conquest of certain northern cities from the Venetians happened separately to the initial conquest of Albania from local feudal lords. Cities such as Lezhë fell in 1478, Shkodër during 1478–79 and Durrës in 1501 with the bulk of their Christian population fleeing. Over the course of the sixteenth century, the urban populations of these cities became primarily Muslim. In the north, the spread of Islam was slower due to resistance from the Roman Catholic Church and the mountainous terrain which contributed to the curbing of Muslim influence in the 16th century. The Ottoman conquest and territorial reorganisation of Albania though affected the Catholic church as ecclesiastical structures were decimated. In the 16th century, the sanjak of Shkodër was reported as having a Muslim population standing at 4.5% of the total, while Dukagjini (sparsely populated at the time) had 0% and Prizreni had 1.9%.