The Case of Albanian as an Islamic Language between Muslim Literary Tradition and National Culture

Abstract

Abstract This paper aims to apply Bausani’s notion of “Islamic language” to the case of the Albanian language, analysing the cultural and linguistic evolution of its literature according to the various stages of the nation-building process, which concerned also the creation (re-invention) of a standard alphabet. To do so, this work firstly examines the literary production of Albanian Muslim writers during the Ottoman period and then analyses the gradual literary de-Islamisation that invested Albanian culture from the period of Rilindja (Rebirth) until the cultural revolution of the Communist atheist regime.