By Stephen Schwartz
Extremist rhetoric and violence by Wahhabi Islamists continues to rock the Kosovo Republic. As described a month ago here, the Balkan territory, with an overwhelming Muslim majority, has experienced a sudden campaign of propaganda and physical assaults against Islamic moderates. Wahhabi bombast in mosque preaching now encompasses grotesque and vulgar anti-Christian insults.
Near the end of February, Kosovar media reported that Shefqet Krasniqi, the most prominent and provocative local Wahhabi imam (cited in the above-mentioned article) had preached that Mother Teresa was destined for eternal punishment in "the middle of hell, deep." Krasniqi's hateful diatribe was based on Mother Teresa's Catholicism and a claim that only Muslims are destined for paradise (a concept specifically denied in the Koran). Krasniqi elaborated on this affront by stating that the Albanian nun "could have all the men she wanted."
These declamations were especially scandalous because Mother Teresa is a hero to Albanians of every religion and no religion. The mosque where Krasniqi committed his verbal atrocity is located only two blocks from Mother Teresa Street, the main thoroughfare of the capital, now mainly a pedestrian walkway. The founder of the Missionaries of Charity is viewed by the great majority of Albanians as the embodiment of a principle enunciated by the 19th century Albanian Catholic poet and Ottoman governor of Lebanon, Pashko Vasa, who encouraged his people to "not look to church or mosque/The Albanian's faith is Albanianism." Although Albanians have warred in defense of their nation against Christian Slavs and Muslim Turks, they have never suffered sustained interreligious conflict in their own ranks. Read more ...
Extremist rhetoric and violence by Wahhabi Islamists continues to rock the Kosovo Republic. As described a month ago here, the Balkan territory, with an overwhelming Muslim majority, has experienced a sudden campaign of propaganda and physical assaults against Islamic moderates. Wahhabi bombast in mosque preaching now encompasses grotesque and vulgar anti-Christian insults.
Near the end of February, Kosovar media reported that Shefqet Krasniqi, the most prominent and provocative local Wahhabi imam (cited in the above-mentioned article) had preached that Mother Teresa was destined for eternal punishment in "the middle of hell, deep." Krasniqi's hateful diatribe was based on Mother Teresa's Catholicism and a claim that only Muslims are destined for paradise (a concept specifically denied in the Koran). Krasniqi elaborated on this affront by stating that the Albanian nun "could have all the men she wanted."
These declamations were especially scandalous because Mother Teresa is a hero to Albanians of every religion and no religion. The mosque where Krasniqi committed his verbal atrocity is located only two blocks from Mother Teresa Street, the main thoroughfare of the capital, now mainly a pedestrian walkway. The founder of the Missionaries of Charity is viewed by the great majority of Albanians as the embodiment of a principle enunciated by the 19th century Albanian Catholic poet and Ottoman governor of Lebanon, Pashko Vasa, who encouraged his people to "not look to church or mosque/The Albanian's faith is Albanianism." Although Albanians have warred in defense of their nation against Christian Slavs and Muslim Turks, they have never suffered sustained interreligious conflict in their own ranks. Read more ...
Source: The Weekly Standard
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