Muslim Romani people

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Muslim Romani people are people who are ethnically Roma and profess Islam. There are many different Roma groups and subgroups that predominantly practice Islam, as well as individual Romani people from other subethnic groups who have accepted Islam. Xoraxane Roma in Balkan Romani language, are non-Vlax Romani people, who adopted Sunni Islam of the Hanafi madhhab at the time of the Ottoman Empire.^[1] Some of them are Derviş of Sufism belief, and the biggest Tariqa of Jerrahi is located at the largest Arlije and Gurbeti Muslim Roma settlement in Europe in Šuto Orizari, locally called Shutka in North Macedonia have their own Romani Imam^[2] and the Muslim Roma in Šuto Orizari use the Quran in Balkan Romani language.^[3] Many Romanlar in Turkey, are members of the Hindiler Tekkesi a Qadiriyya-Tariqa, founded in 1738 by the Indian Muslim Sheykh Seyfullah Efendi El Hindi in Selamsız.^[4] Roma Muslims in Turkey and the Balkans are mostly cultural Muslims or nominal Muslims.^[5][6]

Muslim Roma hold religious male circumcision ceremonies (Bijav Suneti) with great pomp and festivities.^[7] The boys are mostly circumcised at the age of five, because the number 5 (panč) is a sacred symbol among the Romani people. It is a custom among Muslim Roma that the foreskin must be buried.^[8] They believe the foreskin will come back to men on the Day of Resurrection, based on a Hadith from Sahih al-Bukhari 6524: The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "You will be raised on the Day of Judgement barefooted, naked, and uncircumicized (with foreskin)", burying the foreskin is also a tradition of South Asian Muslims.^[9] During the ceremony, the child’s hand and feet are held by his Kirvo (godfather). A Kirvo pays the cost of the circumcision ceremony.^[10] The Tradition of a Kirve who is similar to a Sandek, is also practised in Alevism and Yazidism in Turkey.^[11] Islam among Roma is historically associated with life of Roma within the Ottoman Empire, because Muslim Roma were preferred in the Ottoman Empire and were settled in the Balkans and Rumelia, taken from the Anatolia Eyalet and the Egypt Eyalet. Although Muslim Roma paid a Jizya in the first centuries of the Ottoman Empire, an exception were the Muslim Roma in Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina, who were exempt from taxes by the order of Selim II. After the Edict of Gülhane all Muslim Roma became exempt from paying the Taxation in the Ottoman Empire and became fully accepted Muslims.^[12] In 1874, the Ottoman Empire gave equal rights to other Muslims.^[13] The Turkish historian Reşat Ekrem Koçu, explained that a Group of Lom people who lived in Istanbul convert closed to Islam in the 19th century.^[14] Correspondingly, significant cultural minorities of Muslim Roma are found in Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, Republic of North Macedonia, Bulgaria, (by mid-1990s estimates, Muslim Roma in constituted about 40% of Roma in Bulgaria.^[15]), (a very small group of Muslim Roma exists in the Dobruja and Wallachia region of Romania, comprising 1% of the country's Muslim Romani population^[16]),^[17] Croatia (45% of the country's Romani population, who came from Bosnia^[18]), Southern Russia, Greece (a small part of Muslim Roma concentrated in Western Thrace), Northern Cyprus, Southern Serbia (geographical region) and Crimea (Crimean Roma). The majority of Muslim Roma in the former Yugoslavia speak Balkan Romani and South Slavic languages, while many speak only the language from the host country's like the Albanized Muslim Roma Groups from Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia, speak only the Albanian language and be called Khorakhan Shiptari, they have fully adopted the Albanian culture,^[19] other created an own identity like Ashkali and Balkan Egyptians, and some deny their Romani Background, especially in Kosovo and claimed to be Albanians or Turks.^[20][21] Turkish language is used by the Turkish Roma, only a view speak Kurbetcha , Rumelian Romani or Sepečides Romani. Some Muslim Roma also used the word Gypsy for themselves because they did not perceive it as a derogatory term. Muslim Roma culture is based on the Islamic culture. Under Ottoman Rule, the Christian and Muslim Roma were separated, by the order of Suleiman the Magnificent. Muslim Roma were forbidden to marry Christian Roma and live together or to do business. Muslim Roma men served in the Military of the Ottoman Empire, especially in the Ottoman military band.^[22] Significant differences between Muslim and Christian Roma emerged through the centuries. Orthodox Christian Vlax Romani see themself as the čáče Roma (true Roma) and do not consider Muslim Roma to be part of Romani society and call them Turks and explain they "slice the foreskins from their members". Muslim Roma, however, see Christian Roma as foreign and call them Dasikane (Servant, slaves). Also the phrase Amare Roma (Our Roma) and Cudza Roma (foreign Roma) is used vice versa. There is a huge cultural gap between the two religious groups.^[23]

After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Muslim Roma have found themselves under double discrimination in regions where Islam was a minority religion, experiencing both Antiziganism and anti-Muslim sentiment.^[24]

At the Greek War of Independence, Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) and Balkan Wars (1912–1913), Muslim Roma flee together with other different Muslim Groups to Istanbul and East Thrace, as Muhacir.^[25]

At the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey, Muslim Turkish Roma from Greece have also been resettled in Turkey. In Turkish, they are called Mübadil Romanlar.^{[26][27][28][29][30]}

In 1950–1951 Muslim Turkish Roma from Bulgaria came to Turkey and settled in Çanakkale and surroundings.^[31]

From 1953 -1968, Muslim Turkish Roma and Turks from Yugoslavia emigrated to Turkey,^[32][33]

Because of the relative ease of migration in modern times, Muslim Roma may be found in other parts of the world as well. Turkish Roma from Turkey and also other Muslim Roma from ex-Yugoslavia, came to West Europe as Gastarbeiter, but seen by the Host population as Turks or Yugoslavs.^[34] Muslim Roma from Bosnia and Kosovo went at the time of the Yugoslav Wars to Italy, and live especially in Florence.^[35] Xoraxane (Muslim Roma) from former Yugoslavia went to USA, settled mostly in New York,^[36][37] and South America.^[37] Since 2007, Turkish Roma from Bulgaria went as workers to West Europe^[38]

Most Muslim Roma are Sunni, but they are not exclusively Sunni. For example, there are some Shia Roma communities in Serbia.^[39] Turkish Roma are mostly Sunni.^[40] Under Ottoman rule, Roma Muslim had a lower social status than non-Roma Muslims, but above that of non-Muslims.^[41] However, other Muslim Roma are well-integrated with and accepted by their Muslim non-Roma brothers.

Xoraxane (also spelled as Khorakhane, Xoraxane, Kharokane, Xoraxai, etc. - meaning Lovers of the Koran) is an antiquated religionym, confessionym, and umbrella term for Muslim Roma in the Balkans^[42] or alternatively all Muslim Roma in Southern Europe and West Asia similar to how the term Turks was used for non-Turkish Muslims. They are many groups of Xoraxane Roma, named after their old traditional professional activities, also divived in sedentary and nomadic groups.^[43] Not all Roma adherents of Islam are considered Xoraxane.

The sedentary Arlije are the main group of the Romani people in North Macedonia. They are one of the many subgroups considered Xoraxane.

The Crimean Roma (also called Çingene) are a community of Tatarized Roma who traditionally practice Islam. They are often considered to be both a subgroup of the Roma and a subgroup of the Crimean Tatar people due to assimilation, although the term oraxane is rarely, if ever, used for them anymore

The Zargari are a Roma subgroup settled in Zargar, Iran and neighboring villages who observe Shia Islam and speak in a Balkan Romani dialect. Their exact origins are debated among scholars.

British Romani businessman Alfie Best Jr. converted to Islam in 2023.^[44] As Islam is not an ethnoreligion, it accepts converts regardless of their ethnic background, which includes Roma from non-Muslim backgrounds.

Muslim Roma women wear beautiful silk Dimije also known as Turkish salvar, at weddings, circumcision ceremonies, and other festivals. Even on weekdays, quite a few older women, but also some younger women, wear the şalvar.^[45]

Belly dance and Romano Hora (dance), Roman Havaları 8/9 tact, Zurna, Davul, Clarinet are performed. In the Ottoman Empire, especially young handsome Romani Guys were taken as Köçek-Dancers while young Romani female-dancers were named Çengi.^[46]

• Arlije
• Gurbeti
• Sepečides Romani
• Zargari tribe
• Kakava
• Turkish Romani

• Roma Muslims in the Balkans by Elena Marushiakova and Vesselin Popov