Hafiz Sabri Koçi

Haxhi Hafiz Sabri Koçi (born May 14, 1921 in Orenja near Librazhd , † June 18, 2004 in Tirana ) was a Sunni clergyman. From 1991 until shortly before his death in 2004 he was chairman of the Council of Muslims in Albania .

Life

Under the communist regime, Koçi was imprisoned for twenty years for "propaganda against the socialist order" . After his release from prison in 1986, he worked in construction. In November 1990 he led the first public prayer of Muslims in the lead mosque in Shkodra since the ban on religion was imposed in 1967. In 1991 he was elected chairman of the Muslim Community of Albania and the country's supreme mufti . In the spring of 2004, he resigned from office for health reasons. His successor was Selim Muça .

Under Koçi's leadership, numerous Muslim institutions in Albania were founded or re-established and hundreds of mosques were reactivated or rebuilt across the country. The Supreme Mufti also particularly campaigned for a good relationship between the Sunnis and the Christian denominations in the country and with the Bektashi . In 2005 he was made an honorary citizen of Tirana posthumously together with the archbishops of the Orthodox and Catholics and the great dede of the Bektashi.

Web links

Twenty years in Albanian labor camps: The leader of Albania's Muslims, Haxhi Hafiz Sabri Koci tells Paul Williams how he kept his faith in prison. (2000)

Individual evidence

^ The City-Hall honors today the leaders of the four Religious Communities in Albania with the title of Citizen of Honor . Report on the website of the City of Tirana.

personal data
SURNAME	Koçi, Hafiz Sabri
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Sunni clergyman, chairman of the Council of Muslims in Albania
DATE OF BIRTH	May 14, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH	Orenja near Librazhd , Albania
DATE OF DEATH	June 18, 2004
Place of death	Tirana

[1] The City-Hall honors today the leaders of the four Religious Communities in Albania with the title of Citizen of Honor . Report on the website of the City of Tirana.