“We are Albanians first — religion for us is secondary.” This common claim, frequently heard among many Albanians, is deeply rooted in the 19th-century nationalist concept of Albanianism. Albanian nationalism emerged in the 1870s, and despite internal disunity and conflicting agendas, early nationalists such as Abdul Frashëri and Pashko Vasa pushed for the unity of Albanian-speaking people and minimized religious differences. 

The slogan and its legacy continue to shape and dominate contemporary Albanian identity. But why? How is it most commonly used, and what drives the widespread promotion of this idea? 

The concept of Albanianism seems to be a subject of constant discussion in Albanian discourses. Understandably, many Albanians are growing tired of the recurring debates on Twitter, Facebook, or other media outlets. While I agree that these conversations may be repetitive, I think that it is nonetheless important to deconstruct contemporary usage of this phrase, especially considering the Islamophobic undertone it often carries — an undertone that many Albanians refuse to recognize.

Wake, Albanian, from your slumber

In his 1878 poem “Oh Albania, Poor Albania,” the aforementioned Vasa, a high-ranking Ottoman Albanian Catholic statesman, wrote the words that have hitherto shaped Albanian nationalism. In an effort to create and promote a united Albanian national identity, Vasa pronounced:

“Wake, Albanian, from your slumber,
Let us, brothers, swear in common
Do not look to church or mosque,
The Albanian’s faith is Albanianism.”

The last line, which is also translated as “The religion of Albanians is Albanianism,” became a popular slogan among Albanian nationalists. In fact, during the communist period — 1946 to 1991 — in Albania, Enver Hoxha declared Albania “the world’s first atheist state, whose only religion is Albanianism.” Today, the slogan is widely used among Albanians in both Kosovo and Albania and has been incorporated into our national ethos. 

Interestingly, most Albanians today seem to ignore the underlying context of these lines: that Albanians were historically very religiously divided. The Albanian writer and dissident Fatos Lubonja dissects this notion of Albanianism, stating: “This was a call to change the reality and to unite Albanians based on language and ethnicity, as opposed to religion, which divided us.” 

Lubonja emphasizes that Albanianism is a relatively new phenomenon in our long history and is certainly not something inherent to our identity, arguing that “when the first part about ‘Do not look to church or mosque’ is ignored and the second part about ‘Albanianism’ is mythologized, it becomes as if the religion of Albanians has always been Albanianism; as if the Albanian always put their national identity over their religious identity.”

Albanianism and Islamophobia

The notion of being Albanian above everything else makes it almost taboo for one to identify primarily with their faith — especially if that belief is Islam — or to identify as both Muslim and Albanian. Advocates of Albanianism tend to specifically discourage Muslim Albanians from prioritizing their faith over their nation.

Who are these advocates of Albanianism? A simple search for “Feja e shqiptarit eshte shqiptaria” on different social media platforms reveals its popular usage, as it is employed by political elites, ordinary citizens, scholars, and many others. 

Among the prominent figures is publicist Fahri Xharra, who took to Facebook to encourage Albanians in Kosovo to list their religion as Albanianism in the 2024 census, claiming it to be “the last chance to save the Albanian nation.” Reading between the lines, it becomes evident that Xharra views Islam as the primary threat to the Albanian nation and promotes Albanianism as a countermeasure.

There are also endless examples of random, ordinary Albanians who endorse Albanianism. For instance, earlier this year in May, the online news platform Kosova.Info conducted interviews on the street with random citizens in central Prishtina. In one interview, a man wearing a traditional Albanian plis with the Albanian flag wrapped around him warned Albanians “to not leave the path of Albanianness” and emphasized that “the religion of Albanians is Albanianism.” When asked about what he doesn’t like about his people, he responded: “First and foremost, I don’t like the hijabs and the beards. This is not our culture. A true, proud Albanian would join the Deçan Movement.”

Although some may view his rhetoric as a reaction to the perceived radical Islamic influence in Kosovo, the interview indicates otherwise. The speaker’s words and tone are products of the overarching discourse of Albanian nationalism, hyper-focusing on the rejection of foreign — read: Arab and Turkish — influences and the promotion of what he sees as authentic Albanian culture. His overt animosity for Islamic symbols like hijabs and beards seems to align with a broader Islamophobic narrative, rather than a response to radicalism.

But what exactly is the Deçan Movement? The Deçan Movement, also known as the Movement for the Voluntary Abandonment of the Islamic Faith, is an organization spearheaded by Vetëvendosje (VV) activist Pajazit Jashari. Its purpose is persuading Albanians to abandon their Muslim identity and Islamic beliefs and practices. 

The Deçan Movement’s Facebook page has uploaded the movement’s declaration as its cover photo. Among other things, the declaration states: “The unanimous declaration was that ‘From now on we are not Muslim’… There were ideas that the religion of an Albanian is Albanianism, that Albanians are Illyrians… and there was a will to support the initiative to go directly to Catholicism, to the early roots, respectively in European identity and culture.” 

To put it differently, this movement makes it clear that the labels of Albanianism and Catholicism are suitable and tolerable for Albanians, while Islam is rendered unequivocally incompatible with Albanianness. All this begs the question: would we hear so much about “Albanianism” if most Albanians were Christian? It seems unlikely.

Although some may see Albanianism as subordinating all religions equally, the reality is that — based on the mainstream use of the phrase — Islam is rendered as the principal threat to Albanian national identity. Christianity is deemed compatible with Albanianness, whereas Islam is seen as foreign and unnatural. This is because a Christian identity is seen as offering Albanians a naturally European image that could not coexist with Islam. Such a perspective is driven by an underlying sense of inferiority, as these Albanian nationalists seek to forcibly align themselves with European Islamophobia in order to assert an artificial, self-imposed Western identity onto the entire Albanian nation. 

Happy Eid?

Albanianism’s influence among Kosovo’s elite is evident. In 2022, Sadri Ramabaja, a prominent author and political analyst, took to Facebook to wish a happy Eid to his fellow Albanians celebrating the Islamic holiday. In his post, he wrote: “Happy Eid al-Fitr holiday to my compatriots and friends, who appreciate this Islamic holiday — as it is de facto a value of Islamic civilization — while the nation is their top value!” 

Although Ramabaja did not directly quote or use Vasa’s exact language, the message is nonetheless clear: Albanians must always put nation over religion. The simple fact that Ramabaja used the religious holiday of Eid to promote national unity at the expense of a primary Islamic identity can be interpreted as an indirect form of Islamophobia. 

The best proof of how the language of Albanianism specifically targets the minimization of Muslimness can be seen in another of Ramabaja’s Facebook posts. On Christmas Eve in 2022, just eight months after wishing Muslim Albanians a happy Eid, Ramabaja congratulated Christian Albanians, as well as Christians throughout the world. “Merry Christmas to all Christian Albanians and all my friends all over the world,” he wrote. 

This post included numerous flashy emojis and even a German translation, neither of which appeared in his bland post about Eid. More importantly, Ramabaja’s reminder — which also reads like a plea — for Muslim Albanians to prioritize the nation over religion is absent in his post about Christmas. 

Based on these two posts, it is clear that Ramabaja is promoting a camouflaged form of Islamophobia by reducing Islam as subordinate to Albanianism. The absence of Albanianism rhetoric in Ramabaja’s Christmas post reveals his lack of need to emphasize nation over religion when referencing Christianity. Christianness is deemed compatible with Albanianness, whereas Islam is seen as foreign, unnatural and un-European. 

A false dichotomy 

We must reject the false dichotomy between religious and national identity. One can be both Muslim and Albanian. One should also be able to identify as Muslim first without being ostracized and viewed as an extremist or a traitor. More importantly, those who do identify as Muslim first are not less Albanian than those who see themselves as Albanian first. 

Interestingly, Albanianism is often elevated by our intellectuals and influencers as a unique concept that distinguishes us from other nations. While the idea that Muslim and Christian Albanians have often fought and died together is indeed something to be proud of, it is not unique. Many other multi-religious nations such as Palestinians and Kurds have also displayed unity across religious divides.

What sets Albanianism apart is the constant need to emphasize a unified national identity, something not seen as strongly in these other nations. Palestinians and Kurds, for instance, don’t use Palestinianism or Kurdism to vigorously remind their people to keep their faith private and secondary.

The forceful assertion of Albanianism in today’s discourses can be interpreted as an act of violence, in the sense that it attacks the Muslim Albanian way of being. This 19th-century idea served its purpose. Now, it has outlived its usefulness and is instrumentalized for malign purposes. 

The more it is promoted and normalized, the greater the sense of alienation and hostility felt by Muslim Albanians — not because they feel inherently attacked by Albanianism, but because they are pressured to conform to a singular Albanian identity that prioritizes nation over diverse religious expressions. Thus, the most effective way to protect and maintain Albanian unity is not by persistently encouraging Albanianism, but rather by moving beyond it.

Feature Image: Atdhe Mulla / K2.0

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