Sunnism
Sunni Muslims make up 75-80% of the population of Kosovo. The community is made up of distinct "ethnic" groups: the predominantly Albanians (over 1.1 million), Turks (30,000 to 50,000), Roma, Ashkali and Balkan-Egyptians (about 35,000), Bosnians (about 28,000) and Gorans (about 10,000). All are grouped in the Islamic Community of Kosovo (ICK), founded in 1993 and headquartered in Pristina. Sunnism is one of the two major branches of Islam, along with Shi'ism, and accounts for about 90 percent of Muslims worldwide. The theological differences between the two are small and go back to the death of Muhammad in 632: Sunnis recognize the first three caliphs ("successors") of the Prophet, while for Shiites the line of successors begins with the fourth caliph, Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law. The deep divide is in fact more cultural, with Sunnism under Arab influence and Shiism under Persian influence. In theory, Shiism is absent from Kosovo. However, it has been present here in a diffuse manner since 1389, the date of the battle of Kosovo Polje, which marked the beginning of Ottoman domination and the Islamization of the province. The Ottoman Turks, although Sunni, are then impregnated with Persian and Shiite culture. Moreover, the political, artistic and military elite of the Empire was dominated by Sufi brotherhoods which integrated several elements of Shi'ism into their doctrines when they were not themselves Shi'ism. If one adds the strong Christian impregnation of the converted populations, the result is that Sunnism in Kosovo and the Balkans has a particular identity within the Islamic world. For example, the majority of conversions were made late, by opportunism and without deep religious adherence: from the sixteenth century onwards and to escape the taxes aimed at non-Muslims. In general, it can also be said that Balkan Islam remains "moderate" and confined to the private sphere. Thus, in Kosovo, the majority of Sunnis follow the major Muslim holidays (Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr), go to the mosque during Ramadan, but display few distinctive signs (women are rarely veiled) and at the same time allow themselves to drink alcohol, celebrate Christmas or attend Sufi tekkés. Another characteristic of Kosovar Sunnism: it is very fragmented. Albanians, Turks, Bosnians and Gorans each have their own mosques and hardly mix. The facade of unity is also challenged by internal and external movements. Since the 1970s, tens of thousands of Albanians and Roma have cut their ties with sunnism to join Sufi brotherhoods. Since the 1998-1999 war, there has been a significant number of conversions to Catholicism and Protestantism, but above all the interference of foreign Muslim powers. The Arab states of the Persian Gulf and Turkey have encouraged the spread of a more radical Islam by financing the construction of mosques, the training of imams and the opening of schools. In a society mired in problems of unemployment, national identity and corruption, there has been a rise in sunni fundamentalism, particularly among Albanian groups claiming to be wahhabists or salafists (about 1 per cent of the sunni population). Others are turning to more peaceful Muslim movements, as witnessed by the recent rise of Ahmadism, which proposes a "humanist" reading of the Koran.
Sufism
Sufi Muslims number 200,000 to 300,000 (10-15% of the population). Albanian or Roma, they are divided into nine brotherhoods(tarikat) and reside mainly in the southwest of the country, in the municipalities of Prizren, Rahovec/Orahovac, Peja/Peć and Gjakova/Đakovica. They belong to the mystical current of Islam: Sufism, which originated in Iraq in the eighth century, and whose best-known brotherhood is that of the mevlevis (Turkey, Cyprus, Syria and Egypt), with its whirling dervishes who seek to reach a state of trance by spinning on themselves. Since 2017, the country's nine brotherhoods have been grouped under the Community of Tarikats of Kosovo. Headquartered in Pristina, this is independent of the Islamic Community of Kosovo (Sunni). Although most Sufis claim to be Sunni, they borrow elements from Shi'ism (veneration of Caliph Ali, etc.), Christianity and Judaism and celebrate the Iranian New Year (Norouz) every 21 March. Often described as "tolerant", the brotherhoods place meditation, asceticism and poetry at the heart of their practices. Devotees, sympathizers and dervishes (ascetics) gather to pray, discuss and sometimes live monastically in a tekké following the teachings of a sheikh. Sufism has been established in Kosovo since the arrival of the Ottomans in 1389. The brotherhoods have indeed played a leading role in the conquest of the Balkans with their soldiers, their missionaries and their philosophy which some aspects close to Christianity can explain the massive Islamization of the Albanians. But they have experienced a strong decline during the rigorist Sunni turn taken by the Ottomans in the early nineteenth century. Sufism is still often perceived as an elitist practice that does not conform to Islam by a majority of Muslims. However, some Sunnis have maintained links with the brotherhoods, attending the mosque as well as the tekké and considering the sheikhs and dervishes as wise men. Sufism was thus able to revive in Kosovo from 1975. Thanks to the support of the socialist authorities, which allowed the brotherhoods to emancipate themselves from the tutelage of the imams, the city of Prizren became the center of the Sufi revival in Yugoslavia. By the 1980s, Kosovo had 40,000 Sufi followers, and 100,000 in 1997. In spite of a still very strong opposition from the Sunni authorities, the numbers continue to grow. Among the nine brotherhoods in the country, the two most important are the rufais and the kaderis. Both originating from Iraq, they share different mystical practices (chanted prayers, dances) leading to trance, culminating in a spectacular ritual that consists of piercing one's cheeks with a needle. Then come the halvetis, originating from Afghanistan and constituting one of the largest brotherhoods at the international level, then the sadis, originating from Syria, and the bektashis. The latter, originating from Iran, claim to be Shiites. Very influential in Albania, they are reputed to be the most open: men and women pray together in the tekkés, tolerance of alcohol consumption, etc. More rigorous and coming from Uzbekistan, the nakshibandis are the most recent brotherhood, arriving here only in the 19th century. Finally, the three smallest brotherhoods in Kosovo are the melamis (shiites), the sinanis and the shazilis.
Orthodoxy
Orthodox Christians number about 120,000, or 6% of the population. Mainly Serbian (100,000 faithful) and Montenegrin, some are also Albanian or Roma. They are attached to the Serbian Orthodox Church and depend on the eparchy (diocese) of Raška and Prizren, which covers southern Serbia and the whole of Kosovo, with the Cathedral of St. George in Prizren as its seat. They are mostly concentrated in the Serbian enclaves of Kosovo, north of Mitrovica, Gračanica/Graçanica and Štrpce/Shtërpca. Unlike the Albanians, for whom language is the main unifying factor, the first common denominator for Serbs and Montenegrins is the Orthodox religion. This distinguishes them from other South Slavs of the same language, such as the Croats (Catholics) and the Bosnians (Muslims). Orthodoxy (literally "the right opinion" in Greek) is one of the main branches of Christianity and the one that has remained most faithful to the founding principles of the Church. Theologically, the differences with the Roman Catholic Church are minimal and relate mainly to the nature of the Holy Spirit (the Filioque dispute). In fact, a deep cultural division has persisted since the conflicts between the Christians of the West (under Germanic influence) and the East (under Byzantine influence) in the Middle Ages. With no unifying authority, apart from an honorary primacy recognized to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Greek and located in Turkey), the Orthodox Churches are organized by "nations" and independent of each other. The Serbian Orthodox Church has jurisdiction in the former Yugoslavia and in all the countries where strong Serbian-Montenegrin communities reside (United States, Austria, Germany...). Like the majority of the Orthodox Churches, it follows the Byzantine rite, authorizes the marriage of priests, recognizes the sacred character of icons and prohibits religious orders (monks are subject to the ecclesiastical hierarchy like priests), but the liturgy (mass) is done in Serbian or Church Slavonic (Old Slavonic). Kosovo is considered the cradle of Serbian Orthodoxy with the founding of the Patriarchate of Peć as the seat of the Serbian Church in 1219. The province (or country) remains particularly dear to the hearts of Serbs due to the presence of some of the most valuable medieval Serbian churches, listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site, including the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć. Incidentally, the head of the Serbian Church, who sits in Belgrade, Serbia, still bears the title of Patriarch of Peć.
Catholicism
The most famous personality in the country is the Catholic saint Mother Teresa (1910-1997). This Albanian, canonized in 2016, is the pride of the Catholic Christian community in Kosovo. Currently expanding, it has about 70,000 faithful (3% of the population), mainly Albanians as well as about 500 Croats and a thousand Roma. They are mostly concentrated in the southwest, in the municipalities of Klina, Gjakova/Đakovica and Prizren. Belonging to the Roman Catholic Church and under the direct jurisdiction of the Vatican, this community depends on the Diocese of Prizren-Pristina (founded in 2018), whose seat is shared between the cathedrals of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Prizren and St. Mother Teresa in Pristina. The origin of the Catholic presence dates back to the Middle Ages, when Kosovo and northern Albania were gradually lost by the Byzantines (Orthodox), favoring the settlement of Franciscan missionaries from Croatia and Montenegro. After the Ottoman conquest, the vast majority of Catholic Albanians converted to Islam, in particular to escape taxes on non-Muslims. However, some of them continued to celebrate Christian holidays in secret. The number of these crypto-Catholics or laramanë ("variegated" in Albanian) is unknown. But since Kosovo's independence, hundreds have returned to the fold of the Church each year. At the same time, the diocese is organizing other baptisms of Muslims who have converted to Catholicism. Some Albanian leaders believe that the label of "Muslim country" is an obstacle to the integration of Kosovo into Europe and encourage these conversions. This was notably the case of Ibrahim Rugova, the first declared president of Kosovo (1992-2000), who was baptized shortly before his death in 2006
Protestantism
Protestant Christians number about 20,000 (1% of the population) and are grouped in the Evangelical Protestant Church of Kosovo, based in Pristina. Among them, there are mainly Baptists and Pentecostals, but also Presbyterians (Calvinists). They are mostly Albanians, and some Roma. Their presence dates back to the 19th century, when British missions were allowed to settle in the Ottoman Empire. However, their numbers remained very small (about 200 in the 1990s). Just after the Kosovo War, the arrival of new missionaries and American and British religious associations caused the rapid conversion of Sunni families to Protestantism, mainly in the municipalities of Pristina, Gjakova/Đakovica and Prizren.
Judaism
The Jewish Kosovars are about fifty, three families living in Prizren. Speaking Albanian and Turkish, they are the descendants of Jews expelled from Spain and welcomed by the Ottomans at the end of the 15th century. There were 550 of them in 1940, about 300 survived the Shoah. Of these, more than half emigrated to Israel after the Second World War. The Jewish community of Pristina (about 50 people) found refuge in Serbia after the war in Kosovo. Only the one in Prizren remains, which has had a small synagogue since 2020.
Atheism
Atheists and agnostics are extremely rare in Kosovo, reportedly representing between 0.1 and 1 percent of the population, perhaps even less according to a 2017 survey: it indicated that Kosovo was among five countries in the world where 100 percent of respondents said they believed in God. The decline in the number of atheists and agnostics has been a general trend in the former Yugoslavia since the 1990s: the rise of nationalism and wars have caused a return to religion as a symbol of identity for each people. But no other country in the former socialist federation has reached the level of Kosovo. This is probably due to the weight of tradition, social pressure and the need to identify with a nation that is certainly secular, but with an uncertain future and very divided communities. The few Kosovars who claim to be atheists or agnostics say they are badly perceived, even rejected by their fellow citizens. This can be understood in the case of minorities such as the Serbs or Bosnians, who define themselves above all in relation to their religion. In the case of the Albanians, who are in the majority and generally not very religious, the rejection of atheism is less easy to understand. But it probably explains in part why, in recent decades, 300,000 Albanians have changed "chapel" rather than renounce belief in God.
