page_title: Religion in Albania
section_title: Christianity and Islam in the North under Ottoman Rule
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Albania / History / Christianity and Islam in the North under Ottoman Rule
caption_attribution_description: Shqip: Kulla e Sahatit (Tiranë) This is a photo of a monument in Albania, number: TR088
context_page_description: The most-commonly practised religion in Albania is Islam, the second-most-commonly practiced religion is Christianity, however there are also many irreligious people.
  Albania is constitutionally a secular state since 1967, and as such, "neutral in questions of belief and conscience": The former Communist government declared Albania as the world's first and only "Atheist state". Believers faced harsh punishments, and many clergymen were killed. Religious observance and practice is generally lax today, and polls have shown that, compared to the populations of other countries, few Albanians consider religion to be a dominant factor in their lives. When asked about religion, people refer to their family's historical religious legacy and not to their own choice of faith. Being a secular country today, people are free to choose to believe or not, and to change their faith. Religion is separated from the public sphere and citizens show strong support for secularism.
context_section_description: Ramadan Marmullaku noted that, in the 1600s, the Ottomans organized a concerted campaign of Islamization that was not typically applied elsewhere in the Balkans, in order to ensure the loyalty of the rebellious Albanian population. Although there were certain instances of violently forced conversion, usually this was achieved through debatably coercive economic incentives – in particular, the head tax on Christians was drastically increased. While the tax levied on Albanian Christians in the 1500s amounted to about 45 akçes, in the mid-1600s, it was 780 akçes. Conversion to Islam here was also aided by the dire state of the Catholic church in the period— in the entirety of Albania, there were only 130 Catholic priests, many of these poorly educated. During this period, many Christian Albanians fled into the mountains to found new villages like Theth, or to other countries where they contributed to the emergence of Arvanites, Arbëreshë, and Arbanasi communities in Greece, Italy, and Croatia. While in the first decade of the 17th century, Central and Northern Albania remained firmly Catholic (according to Vatican reports, Muslims were no more than 10% in Northern Albania), by the middle of the 17th century, 30–50% of Northern Albania had converted to Islam, while by 1634 most of Kosovo had also converted. During this time, the Venetian Republic helped to prevent the wholesale Islamisation of Albania, maintaining a hold on parts of the north near the coast.
  This period also saw the emergence of Albanian literature, written by Christians such as Pjetër Bogdani. Some of these Christian Albanian thinkers, like Bogdani himself, ultimately advocated for an Albania outside of Ottoman control, and at the end of the 17th century, Bogdani and his colleague Raspasani, raised an army of thousands of Kosovar Albanians in support of the Austrians in the Great Turkish War. However, when this effort failed to expel Ottoman rule from the area yet again, many of Kosovo's Catholics fled to Hungary.
  In 1700, the Papacy passed to Pope Clement XI, who was himself of Albanian-Italian origins and held great interest in the welfare of his Catholic Albanian kinsmen, known for composing the Illyricum sacrum. In 1703 he convened the Albanian Council (Kuvendi i Arbënit) in order to organize methods to prevent further apostacy in Albania, and preserve the existence of Catholicism in the land. The widespread survival of Catholicism in northern Albania is largely attributable to the activity of the Franciscan order in the area
  In addition to Catholicism and Sunni Islam, there were pockets of Orthodox (some of whom had converted from Catholicism) in Kavajë, Durrës, Upper Reka and some other regions, while Bektashis became established in Kruja, Luma, Bulqiza, Tetova, and Gjakova. Especially in the tribal regions of the North, religious differences were often mitigated by common cultural and tribal characteristics, as well as knowledge of family lineages connecting Albanian Christians and Albanian Muslims. In the 17th century, although many of the rebellions of the century were at least in part motivated by Christian sentiment, it was noted that many Albanian Muslims also took part, and that, despising Ottoman rule no less than their Christian brethren, Albanian Muslims would revolt eagerly if only given the slightest assistance from the Catholic West.
caption: Ethem Bey Mosque in Tirana, built in the 18th century
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