Idriz Gjilani

Mullah Idriz Gjilani (born June 4, 1901 in Velekinca / Idrizaj near Gjilan , Vilâyet Kosovo , Ottoman Empire , died November 25 or 26, 1949 ibid) was an Albanian patriot, Muslim preacher ( military imam ), master speaker and freedom fighter. He is considered an Albanian national hero and, alongside Gjergj Fishta, one of the religious masterminds of the Albanian national movement Rilindja .

Idriz Gjilani came from a family that had inhabited the region where he was born for centuries and gave the place Gjilan its name. He received his religious training in Gjilan, his first lessons in Cernica and graduated there in 1911 in order to continue his higher education in the madrasa "Atik" in Gjilan. He first dropped out for family reasons and did not finish high school until 1926. At the age of 25 he became an imam with the title of Mullah and served in the Muslim communities of Karadak and Hogosht near Kamenica . In 1937 he founded the organization Drita ("light"). In 1941 he became an ulema in the Islamic Assembly of the Vakëf of Skopje . In the years leading up to and during World War II , he wielded great influence in southeastern Kosovo , and his name became known throughout the Kingdom of Yugoslavia . Among other things, he was committed to building roads and bridges. On his initiative, 37 religious schools were also set up in the Gjilan region.

In August 1943 he headed a parliamentary faction in the Italian- occupied Kingdom of Albania and fought against Bulgarian and Serbian partisans in Kosovo to protect Greater Albania, created by the Axis powers .

When the communist Yugoslav Liberation Army took over Kosovo in the spring of 1944 , Mullah Idriz Gjilani had to go underground, but was captured and murdered by agents of the Yugoslav secret service.

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• Mohammad Manzoor Alam: 100 great Muslim leaders of the 20th century . Institute of Objective Studies New Delhi, 2005, ISBN 978-81-85220-06-2 , pp. 411 .
• Robert Elsie: Historical Dictionary of Kosovo . 2nd Edition. Scarecrow Press, Plymouth 2011, ISBN 978-0-8108-7483-1 , pp. 115 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
• Ramiz Zeka: Zhvillimi i kulturës islame te shqiptarët gjatë shekullit XX