A file photo of the Islamic Sheikdom in Tirana.

By Hany Salah, IOL Correspondent

TIRANA, February 23, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) - The Islamic Sheikdom in Albania has set up an ad hoc committee to follow up the establishment of the country’s first Islamic University after getting the initial go-ahead from Tirana.

“The committee is to open a bank account to raise funds for the new university given that Albanian law prohibits financing any religious establishments from the state coffer,” Sheikdom deputy chairman Bledar Myftari told IslamOnline.net Tuesday, February 22.

The Sheikhdom, the country’s highest Muslim authority, has not yet received an official permission to start fund-raising.

On the subjects to be taught in the university, Myftari said they include, along with basic Islamic subjects, languages, history and geography.

“The university will open its arms to students from Kosovo , Macedonia and Serbia as well,” he added.

The idea of building an Islamic university in the country was first raised by Prime Minister Fatos Nano in talks with Sheikhdom officials in January.

Sheikdom Chairman Selim Muca has stressed to Nano the importance of establishing an Islamic university in the country so that young Albanian Muslims would not have to travel abroad and be influenced by other dogmas and ideologies.

The Sheikdom has then submitted an official request to establish the university to the Ministry of Education and sent photocopies to the president, the prime minister and the chairman of the Religious Committees, Ilir Kulla.

In 1990s, hundreds of Albanian Muslims traveled to Arab and Muslim countries to have their education through scholarships.

But when they returned home, they came up with different religious schools other than the Hanafi, which is predominant in the Balkans.

Propaganda

Critics called Nano's move "political propaganda" ahead of the upcoming election.

Critics, however, called the prime minister’s move as political propaganda ahead of the upcoming election.

They further said that the government wanted to soothe an angry Muslim community in the wake of a law allowing land swap or compensation for Muslim bodies which had their endowment lands (waqfs) confiscated during the Communist era.

But Kulla had defended the government, saying that the country was keen on boosting religious freedoms especially after joining the European Union (EU).

Observers believe that the government has turned crimson after the opening of the Catholic University , while Muslims, who make up the majority (around 75 percent) of the 3.5 million population, do not have their own university.

The number of churches in the country also outnumbers that of mosques, which are estimated roughly at 270 out of 1667 established before the Communist era.

Past attempts to establish an Islamic University in Albania have all proved futile.

Al-Azhar University , the Federation of the Islamic Organizations in Europe , and Turkish institutions have tried in vain to make the dream come true.