Islam in Montenegro

Islam in Montenegro is the largest minority religion. Montenegro's 110,000 Muslims make up 17.74% of the total population. They are divided into these main groups: Slavic Muslims split among Bosniaks, who speak Bosnian, Muslims by nationality, who prefer Serbian, Montenegrins who speak Montenegrin, and ethnic Albanians. Albanians are a separate ethnic group, speaking their own language, Albanian (5.26%) and living mostly in the south-east, especially in Ulcinj, where they form the vast majority of the both municipality's and town's population. Bosniaks are Slavic Muslims speaking the Bosnian language and living mostly in the northeast. Montenegro's Muslims belong to the Sunni branch.

History

In the 15th century the Ottoman Empire had conquered much of Montenegro's territory and introduced Islam, which was not uncommon to the Crnojević Montenegrin ruling dynasty.

In 1704 the Montenegrins conducted a massacre of its Muslims known as the "Investigation of the Turks" on Christmas' Eve.

21st Century

The Bosniaks and many Albanians of Montenegro are Muslim by faith but also declared Montenegrins of Bosniak and/or Albanian blood (They see themselves as assimilated Montenegrins with Islam as their religion) The Muslims can be mostly found in the Sandžak region in Montenegro.

Demographics

Ethnic composition according to the 2003 census: Of the total 110,034 Muslims:
* 48,184 Bosniacs ("43.79%")
* 24,625 Muslims by nationality ("22.38%")
* 22,834 Albanians ("20.75%")
* 11,710 Montenegrins ("10.64%")
* 2,681 others (mostly Romany) ("2.44%")

ee also

*Islam by country

External links

*http://www.monteislam.com/
*http://www.seher-tuzi.org/
*http://www.almanah.cg.yu/

References