Islam in Albania (1913–1944) was characterised by an increasing secularisation of Albanian society which had begun with Albanian Independence in 1912 carrying on influences from the Albanian National Awakening. During the interwar period, new local Muslim institutions such as the Muslim Community of Albania arose that severed ties with the Ottoman Caliphate and placed a focus on localising Islam in Albania. The Albanian state also played a significant role in that process through state interference and pressuring the uptake of reforms by those institutions and wider Muslim society. Measures that were adopted were banning the veil and others which were interpreted as modernising Albania. These events caused tensions within parts of Muslim society between conservatives and those who viewed themselves as progressives which caused discussions and reflections about the future role of Islam in Albania and Albanian identity. The interwar era also saw Sufi Islam expand in Albania with various orders gaining new adherents with the largest, the Bektashi Order moving its world headquarters to Albania.

Balkan Wars and Independence (1912–1913) On the eve of the Balkan Wars and due to the Albanian revolts of 1908 and 1912, the Ottomans were unsure about whether Muslim Albanians would defend the sovereignty of the state if war with its Orthodox Balkan neighbours broke out. In October 1912, with Bulgarian, Montenegrin, Serbian and Greek armies commencing hostilities with the Ottomans and entering areas populated by Muslim Albanians, apart from some desertions due to military setbacks, they sided with the Ottomans and mainly fought well. Realising that the collapse of Ottoman rule through military defeat in the Balkans was imminent, Albanians represented by Ismail Kemal, a Bektashi Shia Muslim, declared Independence from the Ottoman Empire on 28 November 1912 in Vlorë. The main motivation for independence was to prevent Balkan Albanian inhabited lands from being annexed by Greece and Serbia, while the Ottoman CUP Young Turk government felt betrayed by these actions as it considered Albanians a kindred Muslim people... Of the Great Powers, Italy and Austria-Hungary supported Albanian independence due to concerns that Serbia with an Albanian coast would be a rival power in the Adriatic Sea and open to influence from its ally Russia........

Apart from geo-political interests, some Great powers were reluctant to include more Ottoman Balkan Albanian inhabited lands into Albania due to concerns that it would be the only Muslim dominated state in Europe.. Russo-French proposals were for a truncated Albania based on central Albania with a mainly Muslim population, which was also supported by Serbia and Greece who considered that only Muslims could be Albanians.. "Benckendorff, on the other hand, proposed only a truncated coastal strip to form a central Muslim dominated Albania, in accordance with the common view amongst Slavs, and also Greeks, that only Muslims could be considered Albanian (and not even Muslims necessarily)." Within the scope of the Balkan Wars (1912–13) the Northern Epirote movement arose in southern Albania amongst the Orthodox population calling for unification with Greece who also opposed living in an Albania under leaders composed of Muslim Albanians.. "The political thinking of the Orthodox Albanians was divided into two categories. Those who lived in Albania were dominated by Greek influence. The majority of them- especially the notables-desired union with Greece. The Orthodox Christians in general had an intense hatred of Ottoman rule. Although this feeling was shared by their co-religionists who lived in the colonies abroad, their political thinking was different."."It is true that most of its inhabitants, though not all, spoke Albanian rather than Greek as their first language at home, and it is clear that it was the factor which principally influenced the Boundary Commission. On the other hand Greeks naturally made much of this fact, and it is true that in Northern Epirus loyalty to an Albania with a variety of Muslim leaders competing in anarchy cannot have been strong.". Fighting broke out in southern Albania between Greek irregulars and Muslim Albanians who opposed the Northern Epirot movement.. "When the Greek army withdrew from Northern Epirot territories in accordance with the ruling of the Powers, a fierce struggle broke out between Muslim Albanians and Greek irregulars." Between 1912–13 and 1916 some areas of southern Albania were temporarily under Greek military administration and Muslims in those areas were subject to Greek law.."Parts of Southern Albania today (Northern Epirus and Korytsa/Korcë) were under temporary Greek military administration in 1913–1914 and 1916 where Greek law on Muslims was also applicable". For example, in 1913 the Greek administration appointed muftis in the settlements of Përmet, Libohovë, Gjirokastër, Delvinë, Leskovik, Frashër and Tepelenë and all received government salaries..

World War One (1914–1918)

After recognising Albanian independence and its provisional borders in 1913, the Great powers imposed on Albania a Christian German prince Wilhelm of Wied to be its ruler in 1914. In the ensuring power struggles and disquiet over having a Christian monarch, a failed Muslim uprising (1914) broke out in central Albania that sought to restore Ottoman rule while northern and southern Albania distanced themselves from those events... During World War one, northern, central and south-central Albania came under Austro-Hungarian occupation. In the census of 1916–18 conducted by Austro-Hungarian authorities, the results showed that Muslims in the regions of Dibër, Lumë and Gorë were over 80% of the population. In the western part of the mountainous areas, Shkodër and in the mountains east of the lake were areas that contained a large Muslim population. In central Albania, the area from the Mat region to the Shkumbini river mouth toward Kavajë encompassing the districts of Tirana, Peqin, Kavajë and Elbasan the population was mainly Muslim. In the area of Berat Muslims were a majority population with an Orthodox minority, while south of Elbasan Muslims were a plurality alongside a significant Orthodox population. In the region of Gramsh, Muslims were a majority except for two people and in the southern Peqin area only Muslims were present. Muslims also were a majority population in the Mallakastër region alongside a small Orthodox minority.. The experience of World War One, concerns over being partitioned and loss of power made the Muslim Albanian population support Albanian nationalism and the territorial integrity of Albania.. An understanding emerged between most Sunni and Bektashi Albanians that religious differences needed to be sidelined for national cohesiveness. Whereas an abandonment of pan-Muslim links abroad was viewed in the context of securing support internationally for and maintaining independence with some Muslim Albanian clergy being against disavowing ties with the wider Muslim world.. "Most Muslims and Bektashis understood that religious differences had to be played down in the name of common ethnicity and that pan-Islamic ideas had to be rejected and fought, even if some so-called 'fanatical' (Sunni) Muslim leaders in Shkoder and elsewhere preferred solidarity with the rest of the Islamic world. Such an attitude was not conducive to Albanian independence to which the international situation was favourable in 1912 and even after World War I."

Interwar period (1919–1939) From the early days of interwar Albania and due to Albania's heterogeneous religious makeup, Albania's political leadership defined Albania as without an official religion. Muslim Albanians at that time formed around 70% of the total population of 800,000 and Albania was the only Muslim country in Europe. In the former Ottoman districts of Korçë and Gjirokastër forming southern Albania, the share of the Muslim population increased in 1923 to 109,000 in contrast to 114,000 Orthodox and by 1927 Muslims were 116,000 to 112,000 Orthodox.."In den südlichen Landesteilen hielten sich Muslime und Orthodoxe stets in etwa die Waage: So standen sich zB 1908 in den Bezirken (damals türkischen Sandschaks) Korca und Gjirokastro 95.000 Muslime und 128.000 Orthodoxe gegenüber, während 1923 das Verhältnis 109.000 zu 114.000 und 1927 116.000 zu 112.000 betrug. [In the southern parts of the country, Muslims and Orthodox were broadly always balanced: Thus, for example in 1908 were in the districts (then Turkish Sanjaks) Korçë and Gjirokastër 95,000 Muslims and in contrast to 128,000 Orthodox, while in 1923 the ratio of 109,000 to 114,000 and 1927 116,000 to 112,000 it had amounted too.]" Yugoslavia and Greece in their state policies of the 1920s claimed that Albania was a little Turkey hostile to Orthodox populations like Greeks and others and that the Muslim majority was persecuting them. Albania refuted those claims of sectarian Muslim and Christian conflict and attributed tensions in its south to the movement for an independent Albanian Orthodox church and those wanting to remain under the Patriarchate.. "A cornerstone of Greek policy, an approach also employed by the Yugoslavs, was to encourage religious differences in Albania and stress that Albania was a little 'Turkey' hostile to Orthodox Greeks. To popularize the idea of two Albanian states, one Moslem, the other Christian, throughout the early 1920s Greece continually complained that Albania's majority Moslem population was actively persecuting the Orthodox minority. Albania denied this, stressed its well— documented legacy of religious tolerance, and added that while there was tension in the southern perimeter of the country, it was not between Muslims and Christians, but rather a rift had emerged because of the movement to create an autocephalous Albanian Orthodox Church and some citizens wished to remain under the Patriarchate." Orthodox Albanians undertook to implement many government reforms due to their previous Ottoman status of being an underclass by desiring to move Albania away from its Muslim Ottoman heritage.. "The Orthodox Albanians carried out the most energetic reforms. They wanted to move Albania away from its Muslim, Turkish past in which the Christians were the peasants and constituted the underclass."

Break with Ottoman Caliphate and beginning of reforms

From 1920 until 1925 a four-member governing regency council from the four religious denominations (Sunni, Bektashi, Catholic, Orthodox) was appointed. Albanian secularist elites pushed for a reform of Islam as the process of Islamic religious institutions were nationalised and the state increasingly imposed its will upon them. At the first Islamic National Congress (1923) the criteria for delegates attending was that being a cleric was unimportant and instead patriots with a liberal outlook were favoured alongside some delegates being selected by the state. Government representatives were present at the congress. Following the government program of reforms, the Albanian Islamic congress in Tirana decided to deliberate and reform some Islamic traditional practices adopted from the Ottoman period with the reasoning of allowing Albanian society the opportunity to thrive. The measures adopted by the congress was a break with the Ottoman Caliphate and to establish local Muslim structures loyal to Albania, banning polygamy (most of the Muslim Albanian population was monogamous) and the mandatory wearing of veil (hijab) by women in public.. A new form of prayer was also implemented (standing, instead of the traditional salat ritual).Albania dispatch, Time magazine, April 14, 1923 As with the congress, the attitudes of Muslim clerics were during the interwar period monitored by the state who at times appointed and dismissed them at will.

State interference, reforms and tensions