165 Milan Vukelić 1 UDC 28:322 University of Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences ALBANIAN MUSLIMS IN THE ISLAMIC STATE AS SUBJECT OF RESEARCH OF THE POLITOLOGY OF RELIGION Abstract Contrary to the general views of science, publicity and politics – which de- scribe Albanians as a completely secularized and religion-indifferent people who have overcome religious intolerance for the sake of achieving the national ideal, the actual situation is completely different. A large number of foreign fighters, who joined the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, IDIL, etc.) in Syria and Iraq, are the Albanian Muslims, who in the name of Allah fight Jihad for the creation of a new, pan-Is- lamic Caliphate. This fact is a challenge for the Politology of Religion as a scientific discipline. Hence, this paper will try to prove that Islam has had a very important role in Albanian society throughout history, and that is the reason why Albanian Muslims are a pillar of the Islamic State. Keywords: Albanians, Islam, Islamic Extremism, Islamic State, Caliphate Introduction The narrative of almost entire literature on the Albanian issue since World War II was that it is above all a national issue and has nothing to do with Islam, because Albanians are a religion-indifferent nation, who put aside their religious disagreements for the sake of achieving the national ideal. A more careful analy- sis of the problem demonstrates that the situation is quite the opposite. 2 Whenever discussing the matter of Islam in the Balkans, the focus has been on Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is quite understandable, because Islam has established a stronghold in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Islamic extremism in this country is a reality influenced primarily through the ideology conducted by Alia Izetbegović. Yet, has it ever happened in Bosnia that 40 jihadists got arrested in a single day? No. That is what happened in Kosovo and Metohija, and arrestees 1 PhD candidate at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade. E-mail:milanvukelic86@hotmail.com 2 Јевтић Мирољуб, Албанско питање и религија, Центар за проучавање религије и верску толеранцију, Београд, 2011, pp.13-14.