Islamistiskt hot mot Kosova och Albanien

Stephen Schwartz

Jag läser en intressant artikel av Stephen Schwartz om hur wahhabiterna - extrema muslimer sponsrade av saudierna -  försöker etablera sig i Kosova och Albanien:

“Away from the eyes of the world, ideological Islamists pursue infiltration of the moderate Muslim communities in Kosova and Albania. But in nearly all cases, they continue to be rejected. Secular, avidly pro-American Kosova remains a major target. The northeast Kosova town of Podujeva, which has seen ongoing conflicts between traditional clerics and radicals, was shocked by gunfire at a mosque in March. Podujeva has been a focus of confrontation between fanatics and conventional Muslims since 2011, when the pro-Wahhabi chief Islamic clerical official in Kosova, Naim Ternava, dismissed Imam Idriz Bilalli, an outspoken critic of fundamentalist Islam, as chairman of the Podujeva council of the Kosova Islamic Community (known as BIK by its Albanian-language initials).”

Jag har tidigare skrivit här i bloggen om förbudet att bära slöja för flickor i Kosovas skolor, bland annat detta:

"I den lilla republiken Kosova är slöja förbjuden att bära i skolorna. Trots att befolkningsmajoriteten är muslimer har man där insett att slöjan är mer än ett stycke tyg. Den är en stark symbol som pekar bort mot den totalitära sharia-staten, och därför en söndrande faktor i en ung republik där muslimer, judar och ortodoxa eller katolska kristna ska leva tillsammans med ateister och sekulariserade människor, i ett litet men trotsigt hopp om att krigens tid är förbi för den här gången. Många européer tror att Kosova är en muslimsk republik. Så är inte fallet. Man skiljer där religionen från staten på allvar. Den sekulära tanken finns med i bygget av landet."

Skolflickor i Kosova. Foto från SIDA

 Schwartz skriver:

“Meanwhile, an official republic-wide ban, adopted in 2010, on wearing of headscarves (hijab) by girls in Kosova schools has furnished a fresh pretext for disruption by the lately-formed Kosova Islamist party “Join!” (Bashkohu!). This “movement” is directed by a radical agitator, Fuad Ramiqi, and aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood. Previously, the headscarf prohibition was effected locally and inconsistently. In 2009, for example, Arjeta Halimi, then 16, from the southeastern Kosova town of Viti, which has a mixed population of Albanian Muslims, Albanian Catholics, and Orthodox Christian Serbs, was excluded from her school building for wearing hijab. But she was offered the option of taking her examinations separately from other students.”

Under åren som gått har förstås detta sporrat aggressiva islamister, och så sent som i år har frågan akut kommit på agendan igen:

“In 2011, after an attempt to overturn the hijab law, the Kosova Assembly, the country’s national parliament, voted against the headscarf and against religious instruction in the public schools. Yet the controversy erupted again in January 2013 when Njomza Jashari, a high school student in the southern Kosova city of Ferizaj, was barred from attending classes with her head covered. In reportage by the English-language service of Al Jazeera, the Islamist television network based in Qatar, Njomza Jashari was depicted not merely in a headscarf, but wearing an Arab-style full-body covering, although her face was exposed. Such a costume is notably rare in Kosova.

Instead of studying at home, as Arjeta Halimi had done, Njomza Jashari was said to spend her time in a local mosque. School authorities agreed, as in the earlier instance, to allow Njomza Jashari to take her final examinations at the end of the year, when other students will be absent. According to Al Jazeera, her parents refused. Her mother, however, appeared on the Qatari network with her hair uncovered and no sign of so-called “Islamic dress.”

Liksom andra länder och folk hotas av den nya tidens totalitära ideologi, hotas också det albanska folket i två nationer av den. Huruvida de sekulära makthavarna ska kunna stå emot moskéernas fanatiker är en fråga som inte går att besvara.