Boston University OpenBU http://open.bu.edu Theses & Dissertations Boston University Theses & Dissertations 2015 From the ashes of atheism: the reconstitution of Bektashi religious life in postcommunist Albania https://hdl.handle.net/2144/15668 Boston University BOSTON UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Dissertation FROM THE ASHES OF ATHEISM: THE RECONSTITUTION OF BEKTASHI RELIGIOUS LIFE IN POSTCOMMUNIST ALBANIA by MENTOR MUSTAFA B.A., Boston University, 1999 M.A., University of Arizona, 2002 M.Ed., Salem State College, 2006 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2015 © 2015 by MENTOR MUSTAFA All rights reserved Approved by First Reader _________________________________________________________ Charles Lindholm, Ph.D. University Professor of Anthropology Second Reader _________________________________________________________ Robert Hefner, Ph.D. Professor of Anthropology Third Reader _________________________________________________________ Jenny B. White, Ph.D. Professor of Anthropology DEDICATION To Myslim and Shermin Mustafa who opened the door to the American dream to me and so many others and to my parents Astrit and Myhyre Mustafa who sacrificed their lives for their children’s education. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the practical, academic, and moral support of many people and institutions in Albania and the United States. Charles Lindholm’s leadership by example and patient advice inspired me to conduct painstaking fieldwork and the writing of the thesis. Robert Hefner has been a constant source of loyal and heartening support. My main readers’ wide-ranging exposure and understanding of Muslim societies and their keen interest and devotion to their advisees made this multi-layered project a stimulating and rewarding learning experience. This study was possible thanks to the hospitality that was offered by the Albanian Bektashi and their willingness to let me into their lives and religious bearing. I thank my gracious hosts for nourishing my thirst for Bektashi knowledge and understanding and for their endurance with my longer than usual stays in their spiritual centers. I hope that this work which documents the dilemmas and internal dynamics of the reinstatement of religion after communism justifies our lengthy and vigorous collaborations. I was fortunate to get to know Dede Reshat (rahmet pastë). He permitted this study and allowed my stay at the Bektashi headquarters in Tirana and other centers throughout Albania. In Tirana, I am appreciative for conversations with Dervish Mikel, Dervish Sali, Muhib Kastriot, and Muhibe Ismete. On my away visits, I consider myself privileged to have been hosted and guided by Baba Hysni of Martanesh, Dervish Hekuran of Përmet, Baba Abdyl of Koshtan, Tepelenë, Baba Sadik of Vlorë, Dervish Myrteza of Melan, Gjirokastër, Baba Skënder of Shtuf Tekke, Gjirokastër, Baba Besnik of Teqe e Zallit, Gjirokastër, Baba Halil of Fushëkrujë, Baba Faik of Elbasan and the communities v that they lead. Outside of Albania, I was fortunate to visit and learn from Baba Mumin of Gjakovë, Kosovo and Baba Arshi of Taylor, Michigan in the United States. My stays at the Bektashi centers brought me in contact with many people, both initiated members and friends of the Bektashi. This study owes a great deal of gratitude to the many ashiks, muhiban, and guests of the World Bektashi Headquarters in Tirana as well as others in above-mentioned centers throughout Albania. In order to uphold informants’ confidentiality, I must regretfully refrain from individually naming all of my gracious hosts and acquaintances with whom I spent most of my time during fieldwork: the muhiban, ashiks, and friends of the Bektashi. As a collective, they accommodated my stays at their religious centers, my participation in the community’s annual celebrations, and pilgrimage to their sacred sites. Their hospitality and knowledge about Bektashism were offered freely and with the utmost care, respect, and attention for my comfort, wellbeing, and progress in my quest for an up close understanding of their lives and worldviews. My only hope is that the contents of this manuscript will meet the expectations of my hosts. I find reassurance in the Bektashi proclamation that only God is perfect and acknowledge that there is room for improvement with my work. Any shortcomings that remain are my own responsibility and not that of the Albanian Bektashi. The academic training, fieldwork, and the writing phases of this study occupied the better part of the last decade. In my early training I learned fieldwork methods and anthropology of religion from Fredrik Barth. During fieldwork, the discovery process benefited greatly from consultations with Charles Lindholm and Robert Hefner. The vi writing phase of the project benefited greatly from friends and colleagues of the Graduate Writing Group of the Department of Anthropology at Boston University. In addition to the official readers of this thesis – Jenny White, Thomas Barfield, and Melinda Krokus – special thanks go also to Robert Weller and Adam Kuper for their thoughtful comments and suggestions for improvements to earlier outlines and drafts of the thesis. Conversations with anthropologists Jenny White about saintly lives, Robert LeVine about Sufistic emotions, and Shahla Haeri, about the fundamentals of the faith, were instrumental contributions to the writing project. Financial support was provided by Earhart Foundation Fellowship under the aegis of Peter Berger and the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University (2005-2006). The Institute for Turkish Studies provided a grant for language study and ethnographic research in Turkey (2006). Fieldwork in the summers of 2005, as well as 2008 and 2011, was made possible by Boston University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Anthropology Graduate Summer Research Abroad Fellowships. The American Council of Learned Societies provided a Language Training Grant to Study Albanian with Muzafer Korkuti of the University of Tirana, Albania (2007). The main fieldwork research was supported in part by a grant from IREX with funds provided by the United States Department of State (Title VIII Program), and the IREX Scholar Support Fund. The Institute for the Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations at Boston University funded dissertation writing through the Muslim Studies Fellowship (2008-2009). The dissertation was completed with the financial vii assistance of a Cora du Bois Fellowship awarded by Harvard University (2011). I am very grateful for the help of all these institutions and foundations. I am also grateful to the Department of Anthropology at Boston University and the following hosting institutions for the grants that made it possible for me to further my research by participating in summer schools and symposia: Mediterranean Ethnological Symposium hosted by University of Ljubljana, Slovenia (2007); University Centre Saint- Ignatius Summer School, hosted by Antwerp University, Belgium (2007 and 2014); Social Anthropology Research Unit of the Austrian Academy of Sciences International Lecture Series (2007); European Association of Social Anthropologists, Ljubljana, Slovenia (2008); and the Trans-Atlantic Summer Institute in European Studies Fellowship by the Center for German and European Studies at the University of Minnesota (2013). The writing of the dissertation were partially funded through part time teaching for the Department of Anthropology at Boston University (2008 – present) and as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion at Amherst College (2012). None of these organizations are responsible for the views expressed herein. Lastly, I would like to thank my family for sharing the burden and joys in witnessing the modest and steady coming together of this thesis. My wife and faithful enthusiast Elfrida joined me in pilgrimage to the holy mountain in 2007. Her tolerance of a less than egalitarian distribution of parenting duties made traveling and the writing of this thesis possible. Thanks go also to our children Imir, Ema, and Bekim. The cheerfulness and animated curiosity with which they welcome every day sustained the viii desire to see this work through the finish line and to look forward to like future undertakings. ix FROM THE ASHES OF ATHEISM: THE RECONSTITUTION OF BEKTASHI RELIGIOUS LIFE IN POSTCOMMUNIST ALBANIA MENTOR MUSTAFA Boston University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, 2015 Major Professor: Charles Lindholm, Ph.D., University Professor of Anthropology ABSTRACT This thesis is an historical and ethnographic account of the postcommunist reconstitution of Albanian Bektashi Sufi practices and community life in the aftermath of a state-based program of radical atheistic secularism. The study is based on 12 months of intensive anthropological fieldwork (9 months in 2007 and shorter research trips between 2005 and 2011) and archival research. The Bektashi Muslims were once closely associated with and supported by the Ottoman state. Since then they have suffered many reversals in fortune. The most severe attack on the Bektashi occurred in communist Albania. Public manifestations of religion and its institutions were entirely dismantled and many spiritual leaders killed or exiled. Nonetheless, survivors now claim that Bektashi devotees secretly believed in and revered the sacred shrines despite efforts by the authoritarian state to do away with all expressions