By Namik Mehmeti
Florence
– An unusual confession of Mrs. Safete Muftija Muka, daughter of His Grace, Salih Muftija, former exponent of the Legality Movement and former Grand Mufti of Shkodra of Kosovo –
Memorie.al / In Florence, with Safete Muftija Muka, we were given the opportunity to talk about not only her life, full of turmoil that the communist dictatorship brought to her and the few days full of love for her descendants, son, daughter and nephew granddaughter, after the 90s that brought the collapse of the Enverian dictatorship. And who is the 82-year-old Safete Muftija Muka? She is one of the eight children of His Grace, Salih Efendi Muftija, former Chief Mufti of Shkodra and Kosovo, sister of four His Grace Salih Muftija, known for his valuable contribution as a patriot, for the national issue, for the independence and future of his nation, for the Fatherland and Religion, was one of the initiators of the supporters of the Muslim Congress called in Tirana, on February 24, 1923. He supported the opening of Albanian schools, the separation of the Albanian mosque from the Turkish one, also translating the Koran into the Albanian language.
He was also involved in Albanian political life as an idealist of the Monarchy, being the Chairman of the Legality Movement in Shkodër. With the capitulation of Fascist Italy in 1943, he did not compromise even with the fascists and Nazis, but remained faithful to his ideal, faith in God and the flag. His Grace, Salih Muftija, was exiled for his nationalist stance and as a loyalist of King Zog I, by Italian fascism together with his eldest son, Fuad, in the prison of Gjirokastra Castle.
In the conversation with Mrs. Safete Muftija Muka, we are bringing some of the episodes that the Muftija family, traditionally known in Shkodër as a zogist and anti-communist family, went through under the dictatorial regime of Enver Hoxha.
Mrs. Safete, why did you prefer to spend a few days with your cousins, here in Florence, when you could also visit your relatives in Milan, Rimini, etc? Is this not related to your brother, Dr. Fuad Muftija, like many young people, had studied in Shkodra, in these cities, so historical and known for culture, art and architecture?
I dreamed of such a thing because when we met our brother after half a century, when he had left Albania together with our father, in the midst of those longing conversations, he also told us about Florence, where he had studied legal sciences. Here, where we are enjoying the aroma of Italian coffee, I was told that on one of the floors of this magnificent building was his address: “Cafe Donnini”, (today Cafe Gilli) Piazza Repubblica – Firenze.
Do you remember that you received any letter or postcard from this address, to the address of your home in the Ndocej neighborhood?
It’s not even a question; we were targeted by the communist security where every letter sent by our father or brother was censored and did not fall into our hands.
The departure or emigration of a group of Albanian nationalists, representatives of Legality and the National Front on November 24, 1944, was organized in your house, precisely by your father, His Grace, Salih Muftija. Do you remember how such a division happened in your family?
No, I was the youngest of eight children in the family, not more than four years old, but soon experiencing the cruel treatment that was being meted out to our family; I was learning many riddles from that separation that left a mark on my memory. Father took with him the eldest son, Fuadin, 14 years old, and with many nationalists from the Legality of Balli, such as Mit’hat Frashëri, Xhemal Laçi, Baba Rexhepi, Zef Pali, Teki Djindi, Hysen Prishtina, etc., left our house. , four days before the communists entered Shkodër…!
How does the flow continue in the Muftija family after the emigration of your father with your older brother Fuad?
In those fragile years, we lived with the elder sons, Xhevdet and Muhamet, who had given their word to father that they would be under their guardianship.
Was it possible to live in those poor conditions when, to find a job, you had the stigma of being a class enemy?
In addition to Xhevdet and Muhamet who worked in menial jobs, my three brothers: Xhevati, Feridi and Mit’hati, without finishing high school, were forced to work in hard physical jobs, such as on farms or in construction, while we girls until as we found our destiny, they did not let us experience this physical suffering, but we suffered spiritually when we faced the cruel treatment meted out to the men of the house.
Over the years, you managed to feel more concretely what it means in the language of the persecutors: “declassed family”, “anti-communist and bourgeois”?!
We suffered spiritually, as these labels for the Muftija family were done in order to keep close people, friends and neighbors at a distance, fearing that they could have consequences. And not only the Muftija family suffered such a thing, but all the citizen families of Shkodra who had their people run away, imprisoned or exiled.
Of course, as the years passed and you went to school, you began to imprint the consequences of this persecution on your memory?
No doubt there were some pressures that made us feel like we were in torture. The surprise checks, mostly at night, carried out by the State Security, as they thought that our father might be hiding somewhere in the hallways and basements that were on the ground floor. I remember how today, when they opened one of the chests that we used to keep clothes and clothes in, one of the officers let out a loud and shrill voice, that’s where the hodja entered and three or four people were released to handcuff him. But the dual was disappointed after the nana had organized the religious clothes of the father, and on top of them she had put the turban that the father wore on his head.
They took out all the loot, dividing the religious costume among them, of course to burn it, but continuing to check every corner of the house, two of the sisters managed to hide it, save it. But the local government, on the other hand, treated us with painful reprisals, where they blocked half of the house, housing tenants, living over 12 people in two rooms and a kitchen, creating an additional room in the attic. That family stayed for four to ten years, but regardless of their beliefs, they did not disturb us, even when my brother, Fuadi, came to Albania, they came and met, it is understood that communism had been overthrown.
What about from the Muftija family, a young man who lived with you, Zija Muftija, the son of Hali Efendis, so this is also a well-known Mufti in Shkodër, escaped to the West?
Just as my brothers’ sisters told me about my father and brother Fuad, I had also heard about the cousin we had as our brother Zija. With the liberation of Albania, the communist brigades led by Ramiz Ali followed the German forces to Yugoslavia and among the partisans lined up dozens and hundreds of young people from Shkodra, from politically declassified families or merchants, who were kept under the control of the State Security, naked in the height of the wild winter of 1944, unarmed, certainly with the intention of annihilating them. During that march, the news broke for Zija that she had died in a snow avalanche in Kološ, Black Mountain.
But the biggest surprise happened when Zijaja, after four or five years, became alive in Ulcinj. From Kolashini he had entered Shkodër and hidden in the loyalty of a family from Shkodër, he had crossed the Lake of Shkodër and after alerting the border authorities of Yugoslavia, the State Security authorities, suffering a disappointment, were once again subjected to reprisal treatment against the family Mufti. All the men of the house were interrogated; he puts pressure on you, doubting their word. However, this adventure of Zijaj is a history-dossier in itself, which evokes many emotions, suffering and sacrifices.
For the life and work of His Grace, Salih Muftija as the founder of the Albanian-American Islamic Center and for Dr. Fuad as the General Secretary of the National Organization of the Legality Movement (OKL) for four decades for the entire political diaspora in exile based in New York with the advent of Democracy has been spoken and written a lot in Albania, Kosovo and in the Western world. Have you had the courage to listen to the interviews or comments made by your honorable father or Brother Dr. Fuadi?
We had a small radio at home, where Xhevdet, the head of the family, would hide somewhere in a corner of the room and listen to “Zani e Amerika” every evening. There were times when our brother Fuadi was also interviewed. The Internal Affairs Branch was immediately set in motion, where the spies followed the movements of the three brothers Xhevat, Ferid and Mit’hat, and even provoked them by telling them that the accusations of Dr. Fuad against the communist dictatorship, they were right, since Albania had turned into a prison and internment camp.
Despite all that, Feridi was arrested as an organizer and participant in the anti-communist organization “Albanian Effort (1948-53) at the “November 28” High School?
I remember this moment of Ferid’s arrest like today. He was handcuffed at home in the presence of nana and all the rest of us. He was sentenced to five years, with many high school students such as Esat Bakalli, Injac Kujxhia, Ahmet Bushati, Gjon Mark Ndoj, Njazi Uruçi, Xhavit Gjyrezi, P. Vata, M. Dani, Rr. Jubani etc. I remember how once a month my mother used to go to Burrel, where Feridi was serving his sentence, to send him food and change. The sufferings and sacrifices to cope with life for the Muftija family have not been without spiritual and physical pain.
In 1970, we were struck by a severe calamity. The younger brother, Mit’hati, who worked as an iron-turner in the State Construction Enterprise and continued high school at night, facing all this ordeal of suffering, went into depression, which ended his life by throwing himself under the wheels of a the “Skoda” vehicle, which was passing in front of the “Rozafa” Tourism Hotel. The tragic event that took the life of the brother blocked the market for several hours and as they said, they expressed their hatred for the dictatorial system of Enver Hoxha.
A friend and I went out that night for a walk in the market; this walk is the only pleasure for Shkodra youth. Mit’hati stopped me and told me to go back home, as nana was not feeling well. Without entering the house, I see that some cousins and friends of the brothers were arriving out of breath. I was stunned when I found out what happened half an hour later. This event made a lot of noise in Shkodër and even though we were targeted by the Security, Shkodër paid special respect to us at the funeral ceremony of our brother.
Researchers and writers from Shkodra, Fatbardha Mulleti Saraçi and Leonora Laçi, wrote about the Myftija family, where they portrayed your mother, Qamile Myftija (1903-1974), as a stoic woman unbroken by age and the long ordeal of suffering.
It is true and we have thanked these two persecuted daughters of nationalist families. The mother experienced all the troubles that life dictated to her, from the internment in Lushnja with her three sons and two daughters, the hard work of the arm to provide a morsel of bread for the children, the persecutions of the State Security until the tragic separation of her son Mit’hat . It did not die, but cracked from a bad mortar, such as the communist dictatorship.
How did your young life go when you were faced with extreme poverty and spiritual suffering?
Being at a younger age than my sisters and brothers, I did not try manual labor at my expense. I continued the Pedagogical school, always having the shadow of persecution behind me, until I was given the right to work as a teacher in Puka. Since this mountainous region was in great need of teachers, the stains on the biography were not looked at with a magnifying glass, since almost all the educational staff came from Shkodra, they had blemishes on the biography. In Pukë, I worked for ten years as a teacher in the lower cycle, first in the village of Kryezi, later in the village of Kaftall, where it was easier for me to go to Shkodër, since I went out to the Gomsiqes Bridge, where there was a movement of transport vehicles for at Shkoder.
In the village of Kaftall, I created warm relations not only with the students, but also with their parents who spent hard days in manual work in the agricultural cooperative. They often invited me to dinner with all the poverty they suffered showing generosity and traditional hospitality.
But, as I have heard in 1967, when the communist dictatorship intensified the class struggle in education as well, it became a real massacre, dismissing many teachers from Shkodra, who came from families with civic traditions and western culture, where the name Yours was on the excluded list. How did you cope with that moment of parting with your students?
To tell the truth, in addition to those sufferings in our family, this was another blow not only economic but also psychological and spiritual. We had heard that such a blow would be made, but hoping that the positive opinion that was given to me by the head of the village would make an exception, but the decision of the former power structures and the party in the center did not even allow making an exception.
I remember that the head of education, having known him as a family, the late Mehmet Hoti, who helps Shkodran teachers immensely, did not hand over the letter he had signed for my dismissal, to me personally, as he felt an injustice was being done to him our class, i.e. persecuted families, but address me with an inspector of the education office. Even today I remember those moments of parting with the students and the villagers in general, who escorted me to Ura e Gomsiqe, I had enough love and there were no tears in their eyes and mine.
So, for the daughter of an honorable family from Shkodra, at the age of 31, a new chapter was opened to cope with survival with sacrifices, both from economic poverty and that of family suffering?!
When I returned to Shkodër, there were moments of joy in our family, as the older sisters, Memja, Sadija and Nezi, had each married into a nationalist family, with prisoners, internees or fugitives abroad in Europe or America like the Dacaj, Behri and Mani family. We must thank the help of our son-in-law, the late Sabri Dacaj, that in those difficult years of the 50s and 60s, he was very close to us in every direction. What preoccupied me when I came to the mother of the brothers Xhevati and Ferid, was finding a job, of course, not so physically demanding.
I had been offered a job at the zunkth-straw company where hundreds of women and girls from Shkodra worked weaving baskets and chairs, but the popular council of the neighborhood at the time did not provide me with a job placement sheet since even working where a large percentage were with “klechka” in the biography, the biography was in the foreground. But it must be said that there were also those who were organized in the party, who made the difference when it comes to well-known citizen families. So the director of this enterprise, Esma Ulqinaku, accepted me to work without the letter from the mayor of the neighborhood. It was also the help of another staff member, Vera Tufi, who arranged me in a ward where I quickly got used to the process of weaving with straw, managing to achieve the norm.
The years certainly brought transformations in your life. You also created your family with your late husband Uran Muka, an heir to a family with equally civic and nationalist values, such as that of Shefqet Muke, ‘Teacher of the People’, imprisoned as a bird-watcher and anti-communist, a family that knew persecution until in the collapse of the dictatorship?!
We also had a bequest left by our father and brother who escaped to the USA so that, in creating a family, we would find our “dough”. And sharing the same pains and troubles that we went through in Enver Hoxha’s cruel regime, we managed to enjoy the years of Democracy, breathing freely and challenging that cursed regime. The enterprise of “Xunkth-Kashtë” was closed like many deficient enterprises, and I, in order to meet the retirement age, directed you to the Educational Directorate, where democrats from the most famous Shkodra families were in charge, looking for a job as a teacher as if persecuted.
Without any hesitation, after more than thirty years, I was given the opportunity to return to my profession as a teacher, at the “Dëshmoret e Prishtina” school in the Perash neighborhood. Thanks to the support of my colleagues and especially the former director of this school, the late Viktor Leka, I quickly got used to the teaching programs for the first grade and what I was able to achieve in no more than three years of working with this class was my greatest satisfaction great in this profession, as this class was announced with results in all indicators, among the five parallel classes of this school, once again finding the gratitude of my colleagues and parents when I left due to age, retirement.
We return once again to the Muftija family. With the establishment of political pluralism, it became possible for the leaders of the Albanian political diaspora to return to their homeland, including your brother Fuad, who for four decades led as Secretary General of O.K.L.L. (National Organization Legality Movement) and your cousin Zijas, another known monarchist in the Albanian diaspora. How did you experience these events in the Muftija family?
First, the opportunity was created to hear each other’s voices after fifty years (on the phone) and then the news that was also given by “Voice of America” that a group of the LEGALITY Party will return to the Motherland. I remember that day in At Rinas, where we went for the first time, there was a gathering of not only family members waiting to meet and greet their sons, but also dozens of supporters of the Monarchy of Legality. We had almost the whole tribe come out, even nephews and nieces.
Emotions were strong and the elderly had to deal with something unexpected. Fuadi did not need any introductions as he called us all by name, even though we were among many relatives and friends, his two brothers and four sisters. It was a long convoy of cars that took the direction to Shkodër. That night our house turned into an identity. At the dinner we had prepared, there were also some well-known figures of Legality, who spend the night with us. I remember some of them, such as: Hysen Mulosmani, Rasim Sina, Nezir Rexhepi, etc.
The conversations that took place were about longing and spiritual suffering for their people who had left them with the hope that they would return quickly to overthrow communism. The assessments they made of our father Salih Muftija, his contribution to Religion and Homeland, showing a culture and a wisdom for the union of all legalists and monarchists around King Zog I and King Leka I, moved us a lot, relieving us of those memories full of pain that we had left even with tears. Radio Shkodra broadcast an interview with Fuad, Mr. Mr. Mulosmani Sina.
In Kosovo, on June 30 of this year, the Institute for Islamic Research and Studies at the Islamic Center of Kosovo held the scientific panel “Salih Efendi Muftija, an outstanding religious and national personality”. Many academics and professors such as Fehmi Mediu, Sadik Mehmeti, Muhamet Mufaku, the Grand Mufti of Shkodra, Imam Muhamed Syhtari, etc., have appreciated the personality of your father. Were you present at this event?
It is understood that the desire was great to be present at such a commemoration, but due to health reasons I was unable to respond to the invitation of the Islamic Municipality of Kosovo, for which I thank them personally. But my son, Galdim Muka, and daughter, Dr., did not fail to be present. Irida Hoti, that is, the grandson and granddaughter of the late His Grace Salih Muftija, where Irada excited the silent family memories, those present as well as the daughter of the nationalist Xhemal Laçi, Leonara Laçi. The greeting is equally exciting from Tirana who made this Scientific Table, Prince Leka.
Ms. Safete, thank you for the interview.
Thank you also for the hospitality you gave me here in Firenze, where like my sister Vildane, and your children Besniku, Zerina, Ehadi and cousin Aida, gave me the opportunity to pass through the gates of Rinas for the first time. Memorie.al
