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FOCUS 57 “I keep this image always with me, to bring me luck.” The Alid Iconography between (Interview with Ramisha).1 Bektashi Claiming and Popular Piety Introduction in Contemporary Albania This sentence synthetically expresses the intertwined factors and varied discourses about the veneration of Islamic Alid icons in contemporary Albania. The icono­ graphic cult of some figures related to Alid tradition seems to be absolutely sponta­ neous and integrated within the religious experience as an integral part of the living religions in Albania. In recent time, several works have ana­ lysed the institutional and political muta­ tions of Balkan Islam in the post­Commu­ nist era (Elbasani 2; Bougarel and Clayer 15). Less attention has been dedicated to Gianfranco Bria and Gustavo Mayerà the study of everyday­life Islamic transfor­ mations (Duijzings 157). Starting from this In this work, we analysed the intertwining could shape the cognitive perceptions point, this work analysed the iconographic of social transformations and evolution of and moral dispositions of believers who worship at the local and supra­local levels lived religion through the kaleidoscope partly play, critically and individually, their where it takes on several social and politi­ of Alid iconographic worship in a post- own religiosity. Finally, the spread of the cal connotations, composed within differ­ socialist context such as Albania. In this icons seems to indicate a marketization of ent discursive fields. This study is based on framework, the Bektashi community religious piety and a surfacing of public information collected during a year of eth­ restored and renewed Alid iconography, Islam, promoted by the Bektashiyya, in nographic research within the Albanian at first supported by transnational Iranian order to renegotiate power relations mystical networks in 2014.2 The general and Alevi networks, in order to hold social within Albanian society. aim is to examine the intertwining of the and political legitimation within the frag- social and cultural transformations with mented religious field. The embodying Keywords: Islam; Albania; Bektashiyya; different religious traditions, native or experiences of iconographic worship Sufism; Iconography fo reign, that are thus directly detectable in Middle East – Topics & Arguments #08–2017 FOCUS 58 the evolution of the religious worship – This paper partly follows the theoretical 228). and exaltation of the ecumenical and such as Alid iconography – in public and approach of Talal Asad on the discursive multi­faith and secular character of the private spaces. Considering this, we will nature of the Islamic tradition (Asad 14). Albanian civil religion (Sulstarova 28). The focus exclusively on the worship of Islamic From this contemporary standpoint, this role of religion was politically marginal in icons related to the Alid tradition pro­ work considers that the internalisation of the public sphere; the atheist constitution moted by the Bektashi community in con­ public meaning, cognitive categories and and the secular/atheist ideological back­ temporary Albania. By Alid iconography recognised norms are configured by the ground avoided the presence of religious we mean “the feeling or expression of rev­ worship embodying (Csordas 11) that authorities within state apparatuses. The erence and adoration for the figures of ʿAlī develops the habitus (Bourdieu 124) and state, through its bureaucratic apparatus bin Abī Ṭālib3 and his descendants Ḥusayn, the practical–emotional dispositions of the built during communist times, continued H̩ assan and all Shi’a Imams”. Although this believers’ “sense of self” (Pinto 104). to monitor and control Albanian society work concerns Islam in particular, it is (Elbasani and Roy 461). However, this did important to note that Albania is a multi­ not prevent some politicians from exploit­ confessional country; according to the last Albanian Backgrounds: Secularisation and ing religion for their own electoral and census, conducted in 2011, the makeup of Fragmented Religious Field geopolitical goals (Lakshman­Lepain 156). the country was 60% Muslim, 10% Catholic, The collapse of the regime led to several and 7% Orthodox (IPSOS).4 During the communist period that ended mutations, such as the appearance of a The first goal of this paper is to analyse the in 1990, the religious field underwent a competitive political system, a rapid material and discursive strategies pro­ strong sclerosis5: through a control and urbanization of the Tirana district and the duced by Bektashi community and the monitoring system, the Communist opening of the global space after years of transnational frame of this phenomenon regime banned religious worship, which isolationism. The secularisation legacy and related to the networking strategies of could only be practised clandestinely religious pluralism favoured a critical indi­ some foreign actors, Iran and Turkish (Clayer, “Saints” 36). After the Communist vidualistic attitude of believers towards Alevis, and by Bektashis. The paper will regime collapsed, the reconstruction of the institutional religions. then analyse the counter­narrative gener­ religious worship was carried out to In this mutable and changeable context, ated by religious authorities about the ensure support and legitimacy for the new several actors contributed to the recon­ “orthodox cult of icons” to contribute post­communist political course (Clayer, struction of religious worship according to actively to the configuration of the power “God” 279). However, post-socialist a triple dynamic (Clayer, “God” 290). landscape that shapes and fragments the Albanian society was partially trans­ Firstly, the state­supported religious religious field (Salvatore 91). Later, we will formed: the secularisation of society from authorities from above; secondly, several focus on the narratives intertwining with 1967 to 1990 – the period of the religion foreign religious actors from outside – worship diversification and subjective ban – showed its effects in the decline of Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran – tried to pro­ embodied experiences by believers religious practice (Clayer and Bougarel selytize their own faith; thirdly, the popula­ Middle East – Topics & Arguments #08–2017 FOCUS 59 tion from below, especially in peripheral The Alid Iconography: Post-socialist This position assumed by Bektashis con­ areas, produced locally and individually a Revival and Customizing Spread tributed to the forging of the ecumenical relatively strong need for religiosity. and laic character of the Albanian nation The overlapping of secular/religious, indi­ The Bektashiyya, treated administratively that never held Islam as the official reli­ vidual/institutional and domestic/ foreign as a ṭarīqa (sufi order), was one of the larg­ gion, despite being a Muslim majority ­ instances fragmented the religious field est Sufi brotherhoods in the Ottoman 70% versus 20% Christian Orthodox and (Elbasani and Roy 462) that was contem­ imperial territory, due in part to the symbi­ 10% Christian Catholic (Clayer, Origines porarily formatted by national­secular ide­ otic bond with the Janissaries. The founder 413) The matter was to legitimize the pres­ ology. This double dynamic created a of the order was Hajji Bektashi (1209- ence of a predominantly Muslim nation in strong competition between different offi­ 1271),6 considered a descendant of Musa Europe, different from the Turkish nation, cial and unofficial actors who implement al­Kazim7 (Melikoff 58). Nevertheless, his­ and to allow the establishment of an different strategies of self­legitimisation torical information about Bektashi origins Albanian state after the fall of the Ottoman and de­legitimisation. Sometimes these is often fragmented or unclear (De Jong Empire.11 Consequently, this brotherhood strategies grasp the offer of religious 7). The suppression of the Janissary order8 acquired a specific place on the religious goods such as practices or items that are in 1826 weakened the Bektashi presence and political scene in Albania: it became critically consumed by believers who sub­ in Ottoman territory. A few decades later, de facto a religious community apart jectively choose their own be­in­the­world. the Bektashiyya had a moderate revival (Clayer, Origines 413). Contemporarily, it contributes to frame mainly concentrated in the Balkan The symbiosis with the Albanian nation and embody moral disposition, corporal Peninsula. marginally influenced Bektashi beliefs, technique and cognitive schema by the At the turn of the twentieth century, the even the iconographic worship that was believers­customers. To understand this Bektashiyya played an active role in the widespread in several Bektashi branches double dynamic, this work analyses how construction of the Albanian separatist within the imperial territory.12 As de Jong the Bektashi community reconstructed the project; several Bektashi babas9 encour­ quoted, the Alid iconography is a feature iconographic worship of the Prophet’s aged the spread of the Albanian language of Bektashi tradition: family, in order to legitimise its religious and books in the national language One of the central dogmas in Bektas­ and political authority within post­socialist (Clayer, “Bektachisme” 281). By integrating hism is that the Imam ʿAlī was a mani­ Albanian society. nationalism with its doctrine and partici­ festation of the Divine on earth […] the pating in national liberation movements, images (of Ahl el­Bayt) epitomize the the Albanian Bektashiyya

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