**Albania Is Planning a New Muslim State Inside Its Capital**
Prime Minister Edi Rama says he wants to give members of the Bektashi, a Shiite Sufi order, their own Vatican-style enclave as a way of promoting religious tolerance.
By Andrew Higgins, reporting from Tirana and Kruje, Albania, Sept. 21, 2024
—-
The Muslim cleric preparing to lead what, if everything goes as planned, will become the world’s smallest state, has laid-back plans for the tiny new country.
His hoped-for Muslim state in Tirana, Albania’s capital, will be a Vatican-style sovereign enclave controlling territory about the size of five New York City blocks, and it will allow alcohol, let women wear what they want and impose no lifestyle rules.
“God does not forbid anything; that is why he gave us minds,” said the cleric, Edmond Brahimaj, known to followers as Baba Mondi, explaining how he intends to rule over a 27-acre patch of land that Albania wants to turn into a sovereign state with its own administration, passports and borders. The Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama, says he will announce plans for the entity, to be called the Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order, in the near future.
“All decisions will be made with love and kindness,” said Baba Mondi, 65, a former Albanian Army officer who is revered by millions around the world by his official title, His Holiness Haji Dede Baba. He is the paramount leader of the Bektashi, a Shiite Sufi order founded in the 13th century in Turkey but now based in Albania.
In an interview, Mr. Rama, the prime minister, said the aim of the new state was to promote a tolerant version of Islam on which Albania prides itself. “We should take care of this treasure, which is religious tolerance and which we should never take for granted,” he said.
An avowedly moderate Islamic microstate, the prime minister said, would send a message: “Do not let the stigma of Muslims define who Muslims are.”
The territory of the proposed new Islamic state is a compound in a low-rent residential district of eastern Tirana. It is just a quarter of the size of Vatican City, currently the world’s smallest country, governed by the pope, an absolute monarch.
Baba Mondi said that “size doesn’t matter,” adding, “I don’t need to be a dictator,” though he conceded that the only significant constraint on his authority will be God. After toasting visitors with raki, a fiery drink distilled from grapes, he noted that he made no claim to infallibility.
The Bektashi domain features a domed meeting and prayer hall, a museum showcasing the order’s history, a clinic, an archive and the administrative offices of Baba Mondi, a cheery man with a white beard and waspish disdain for rigid dogma. Muslim extremists who set off bombs and use violence to spread their version of the faith, he said, “are just cowboys.”
Combining a loose interpretation of the Quran with mysticism, elements of Turkey’s pre-Islamic faiths and devotion to their deceased wise men, known as dervishes, the Bektashis moved their headquarters to Tirana from Turkey nearly a century ago after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founding father of the Turkish Republic, shut down their operations.
Members of the sect played a prominent role in Albania’s nationalist awakening against Turkish rule, promoting a relaxed version of Islam that helped rally the country’s large Muslim and Christian communities behind the secular cause of independence.
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**Albania Is Planning a New Muslim State Inside Its Capital**
Prime Minister Edi Rama says he wants to give members of the Bektashi, a Shiite Sufi order, their own Vatican-style enclave as a way of promoting religious tolerance.
By Andrew Higgins, reporting from Tirana and Kruje, Albania, Sept. 21, 2024
—-
The Muslim cleric preparing to lead what, if everything goes as planned, will become the world’s smallest state, has laid-back plans for the tiny new country.
His hoped-for Muslim state in Tirana, Albania’s capital, will be a Vatican-style sovereign enclave controlling territory about the size of five New York City blocks, and it will allow alcohol, let women wear what they want and impose no lifestyle rules.
“God does not forbid anything; that is why he gave us minds,” said the cleric, Edmond Brahimaj, known to followers as Baba Mondi, explaining how he intends to rule over a 27-acre patch of land that Albania wants to turn into a sovereign state with its own administration, passports and borders. The Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama, says he will announce plans for the entity, to be called the Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order, in the near future.
[Image](https://static01.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2024-09-20-albania-islam-map/340c55da-417d-4477-8bb0-36be2381c977/_assets/ALBANIA-ISLAMmap-335.jpg)
“All decisions will be made with love and kindness,” said Baba Mondi, 65, a former Albanian Army officer who is revered by millions around the world by his official title, His Holiness Haji Dede Baba. He is the paramount leader of the Bektashi, a Shiite Sufi order founded in the 13th century in Turkey but now based in Albania.
[Image](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/09/21/multimedia/21albania-islam-03-kbpf/21albania-islam-03-kbpf-jumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp) _”Edmond Brahimaj, known to followers as Baba Mondi, center, meeting with workers to discuss the museum on the grounds of the Bektashi compound.”_
[Image](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/09/21/multimedia/21albania-islam-04-kbpf/21albania-islam-04-kbpf-jumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp) _”The sovereign enclave of the Bektashi order would be the size of about five New York City blocks.”_
In an interview, Mr. Rama, the prime minister, said the aim of the new state was to promote a tolerant version of Islam on which Albania prides itself. “We should take care of this treasure, which is religious tolerance and which we should never take for granted,” he said.
An avowedly moderate Islamic microstate, the prime minister said, would send a message: “Do not let the stigma of Muslims define who Muslims are.”
The territory of the proposed new Islamic state is a compound in a low-rent residential district of eastern Tirana. It is just a quarter of the size of Vatican City, currently the world’s smallest country, governed by the pope, an absolute monarch.
Baba Mondi said that “size doesn’t matter,” adding, “I don’t need to be a dictator,” though he conceded that the only significant constraint on his authority will be God. After toasting visitors with raki, a fiery drink distilled from grapes, he noted that he made no claim to infallibility.
“Only God,” he said, “doesn’t make mistakes.”
[Image](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/09/21/multimedia/21albania-islam-02-kbpf/21albania-islam-02-kbpf-jumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp) _”view of the compound and the surrounding area. The Bektashi state would be just a quarter of the size of Vatican City, currently the world’s smallest country.”_
[Image](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/09/21/multimedia/21albania-islam-05-kbpf/21albania-islam-05-kbpf-jumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp) _”The territory of the proposed new Islamic state is in a low-rent residential district of Tirana.”_
The Bektashi domain features a domed meeting and prayer hall, a museum showcasing the order’s history, a clinic, an archive and the administrative offices of Baba Mondi, a cheery man with a white beard and waspish disdain for rigid dogma. Muslim extremists who set off bombs and use violence to spread their version of the faith, he said, “are just cowboys.”
Combining a loose interpretation of the Quran with mysticism, elements of Turkey’s pre-Islamic faiths and devotion to their deceased wise men, known as dervishes, the Bektashis moved their headquarters to Tirana from Turkey nearly a century ago after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founding father of the Turkish Republic, shut down their operations.
Viewed as heretics by many conservative Shiites and Sunnis, and subjected to centuries of persecution in Muslim lands, the Bektashis have been a [force in Albania and neighboring countries such as Kosovo and Macedonia](https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/10/world/tetovo-journal-dervish-holy-ground-is-macedonia-battleground.html) since the Ottoman Empire’s conquest of the Balkans in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Members of the sect played a prominent role in Albania’s nationalist awakening against Turkish rule, promoting a relaxed version of Islam that helped rally the country’s large Muslim and Christian communities behind the secular cause of independence.
Though one of Europe’s poorest countries, Albania has a long history of helping people in need, sheltering Jews during World War II and [Afghans fleeing the Taliban in 2021](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/world/europe/afghanistan-refugees-albania.html). Its international airport is named after [Mother Teresa, the ethnic Albanian nun](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/09/01/world/europe/mother-teresa-saint-timeline.html) who was [awarded a Nobel Peace Prize](https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1979/10/18/111198555.html?zoom=15&pageNumber=2) for her charity work in India.
[Image](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/09/21/multimedia/21albania-islam-06-kbpf/21albania-islam-06-kbpf-jumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp) _”In downtown Tirana. Members of the Bektashi sect played a prominent role in Albania’s nationalist awakening against Turkish rule”_
[Image](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/09/21/multimedia/21albania-islam-07-kbpf/21albania-islam-07-kbpf-jumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp) _”Tourists in Tirana. There is a widespread view of the Bektashi sect, even among some Christians, as Albania’s national religion”_
!ping ISLAM
The balkanisation will continue until morale improves 😤😤😤
!ping ISLAM&BALKAN