Let us gather the stones. Small, fist sized, round: but not too round; for which momeen wants to miss a chance to go to the place of peace and blessings? All together now: Bismillah ur-rehmaan-ur-raheeeeeeem..
--------------------------
Conversion rate
Dec 30th 2008 | PRISTINA
From The Economist print edition
A surprising story of Muslim converts to Christianity
A CHRISTMAS tree dominates the centre of Pristina. Nearby a huge Catholic cathedral is being built. Farther off stand statues of two Albanian heroes: Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a Catholic nun, and Skanderbeg, a medieval prince who renounced Islam for Catholicism. Yet 95% of Kosovoâs 1.8m ethnic Albanians, out of a total population of 2m, are nominally Muslim. Don Shan Zefi, a Catholic cleric, says there are only 65,000 Catholics in Kosovo.
If Don Zefi has his way, there will be a lot more in future. On Christmas Eve some 38 people were baptised in a single town, Klina. Conversions to Christianity have become common (though a cautious Catholic church does not give precise figures). Don Zefi says he knows of large numbers more in âtens of villagesâ who want to convert.
He dislikes the word, because many of them come from a crypto-Christian background. Their forefathers may have converted to Islam under Ottoman rule, but behind closed doors they kept their old Catholic practices. Jahja Drancolli, a historian, adds that âreligion has always been secondaryâ to being Albanian. Converts, he says, âwant to return to the old religion they believe they hadâ and to show that they are âpart of the Euro-American trend.â For every convert, anecdotal evidence suggests more go to church or are interested in Christianity.
The Catholic church is not the only one active in Kosovo. Since 1985, says Artur Krasniqi, a Protestant pastor, as many as 15,000 Kosovar Albanians have converted to Protestantism: 2,000 regularly attend church. He says that Kosovo, despite being nominally mostly Muslim, has âno religious identityâ. But he worries about the rising influence of radical Muslims. Protestants, he complains, cannot get separate sections in cemeteries because the authorities do not want to provoke quarrels with local Muslims.
What about Orthodoxy? Close by Pastor Arturâs office is the empty hulk of the unfinished, abandoned Serbian Orthodox cathedral in Pristina. Kosovoâs Serbs, who are Orthodox, make up the largest Christian group in Kosovo. They no longer live in the capital but in the north or in scattered enclaves and villages. Since the 1999 war, dozens of their churches have been destroyed. Worse, the Serbian Orthodox church in Kosovo is riven by a political split that has seen monks brawling and fighting. In Belgrade the 94-year-old Serbian Orthodox patriarch, Pavle, has long been gravely ill and a vicious war of succession is being waged. For now, other forms of Christianity seem more peaceable.
http://www.economist.com/world/europe/disp...e=hptextfeature
--------------------------
Conversion rate
Dec 30th 2008 | PRISTINA
From The Economist print edition
A surprising story of Muslim converts to Christianity
A CHRISTMAS tree dominates the centre of Pristina. Nearby a huge Catholic cathedral is being built. Farther off stand statues of two Albanian heroes: Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a Catholic nun, and Skanderbeg, a medieval prince who renounced Islam for Catholicism. Yet 95% of Kosovoâs 1.8m ethnic Albanians, out of a total population of 2m, are nominally Muslim. Don Shan Zefi, a Catholic cleric, says there are only 65,000 Catholics in Kosovo.
If Don Zefi has his way, there will be a lot more in future. On Christmas Eve some 38 people were baptised in a single town, Klina. Conversions to Christianity have become common (though a cautious Catholic church does not give precise figures). Don Zefi says he knows of large numbers more in âtens of villagesâ who want to convert.
He dislikes the word, because many of them come from a crypto-Christian background. Their forefathers may have converted to Islam under Ottoman rule, but behind closed doors they kept their old Catholic practices. Jahja Drancolli, a historian, adds that âreligion has always been secondaryâ to being Albanian. Converts, he says, âwant to return to the old religion they believe they hadâ and to show that they are âpart of the Euro-American trend.â For every convert, anecdotal evidence suggests more go to church or are interested in Christianity.
The Catholic church is not the only one active in Kosovo. Since 1985, says Artur Krasniqi, a Protestant pastor, as many as 15,000 Kosovar Albanians have converted to Protestantism: 2,000 regularly attend church. He says that Kosovo, despite being nominally mostly Muslim, has âno religious identityâ. But he worries about the rising influence of radical Muslims. Protestants, he complains, cannot get separate sections in cemeteries because the authorities do not want to provoke quarrels with local Muslims.
What about Orthodoxy? Close by Pastor Arturâs office is the empty hulk of the unfinished, abandoned Serbian Orthodox cathedral in Pristina. Kosovoâs Serbs, who are Orthodox, make up the largest Christian group in Kosovo. They no longer live in the capital but in the north or in scattered enclaves and villages. Since the 1999 war, dozens of their churches have been destroyed. Worse, the Serbian Orthodox church in Kosovo is riven by a political split that has seen monks brawling and fighting. In Belgrade the 94-year-old Serbian Orthodox patriarch, Pavle, has long been gravely ill and a vicious war of succession is being waged. For now, other forms of Christianity seem more peaceable.
http://www.economist.com/world/europe/disp...e=hptextfeature