Europe’s Balkan Muslims. A New History

Since the establishment of Al-Baghdadi’s Caliphate in the Middle East in June 2014, international media outlets have frequently reported on foreign fighters flocking there from all parts of the world, including the Balkans. This poignant theme has once more drawn the attention of scholars, researchers, and policymakers to the understudied topic of Islam in Southeastern Europe and the Muslim communities who live there. The constant instability and precariousness of the western Balkans, characterised by economic woes, pervasive corruption, and the meddling of foreign actors in the internal sociopolitical affairs of this part of Europe, are part of a worrisome dynamic that can potentially further destabilise these fragile states.

It is virtually impossible to understand the place of Islam and the Muslim communities in the Balkans without careful, indepth study of these populations’ history and culture. The current Islamic mosaic in the Balkans is indeed very complex. For example, whilst some of the Muslim communities can be clearly defined ethnically (such as the ethnic Turks in Macedonia), many groups of Muslims display quite fluid ethnic identities, such as the Slav Muslims in Montenegro, the Pomaks in Bulgaria, and the Goranis in Kosovo, among others. A fascinating, nuanced account, Clayer and Bougarel’s monograph perfectly fills a gap in contemporary scholarship. The authors not only address understudied topics such as the Muslim communities in Romania and Macedonia, but also carefully reexamine areas that have received considerable attention in academic research, such as the Muslim community in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the book’s first part, the authors dedicate adequate space to a thorough examination of Ottoman rule in the Balkans during the turbulent nineteenth century. They provide ample information and detail regarding the relations between the Sublime Porte and other empires, such as Russia, France, Great Britain and the Dual Monarchy. In addition, they emphasise the topic of Muslim communities in the context of Balkan liberation from Ottoman rule in places such as Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, etc. Here, all the peculiar trajectories are studied in depth. The authors also provide information about the networks connecting Balkan Muslims with the wider umma in the Middle East and beyond. In addition, the process of identity (d)evolution of the Balkan Muslims is dealt with accurately and persuasively. Last but not least, Clayer and Bougarel’s monograph contains detailed information regarding the migration flows caused by the turmoil in the Balkans in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; it also takes up the understudied subject of reformers in Islam.

The authors dedicate considerable space to the very important topic of sociopolitical mobilisations among different Muslim communities in the Balkans. Here they give a careful account of all of the most important dynamics, providing readers with a meticulous overview of these topics. All the pertinent cases are studied thoroughly and are examined from different scholarly angles. Clayer and Bougarel show that the political mobilisations in the Balkan countries were diverse, and moreover that within certain countries, different Muslim groups opted for dissimilar types of sociopolitical mobilization. Their treatment of these issues reveals, with much clarity, that Muslim groups were not a monolithic entity; studying these multifaceted topics requires a nuanced approach.

The authors dedicate a whole chapter to the history of the Muslim communities in the Balkans during the Communist era. Here once more they have excelled and shown their in-depth knowledge of the region. The different trajectories are portrayed with much attention to detail. For example, it emerges that the position of Islam was much different in Albania from what it was in Yugoslavia. Whereas the Yugoslav authorities gave considerable autonomy to religious institutions, including the Islamic ones, in Albania the regime of Enver Hoxha clamped down on these organizations and banned religion outright in 1967. Lastly, Clayer and Bougarel provide a rich description of the sociopolitical context following the fall of communism, detailing and skillfully analysing the myriad political parties and movements that sprang up following the implementation of political pluralism.

Europe’s Balkan Muslims. A New History is a superb work that should be in every university library. However, just like any other monograph dealing with a challenging topic, this book possesses minor flaws and shortcomings. There is a scarcity of cited sources; whole sections of the book are not underpinned by references. For example, in addressing the fascinating topic of Islam under Axis rule, the authors provide valuable information about the position of the understudied Bektashi community in Albania (97). Yet no sources are cited in this section, which makes it very difficult for the reader to verify their claims or to learn more about this intriguing topic. They assert, incorrectly, that in Yugoslavia the ‘veil’ was banned in 1950 (132); however, women wore different types of head coverings in different parts of Yugoslavia. The Communist authorities did ban the zar and the feredža, which are full-face coverings, as part of a campaign kickstarted by the partisan resistance during World War II. Regrettably, the authors have only scratched the surface of the topic of Islam and Muslims under Axis occupation (for example the Yugoslav case, 104). This is an essential issue that can explain important dynamics in Yugoslavia during the communist era. The authors have rightly dedicated considerable space to an examination of the position of ethnic Albanians in the autonomous province of Kosovo and in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. Sadly, though, they have given scant attention to the position of ethnic minorities in Albania, such as Greeks, Macedonians, Serbs et al. Consequently, the monograph is not perfectly balanced. Nevertheless, I recommend this book to any person with an interest in the Balkans.