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The great history of the small Koran of Albania

2023-04-26 22:10:16Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
The great history of the small Koran of Albania
QURAN

AFP / The ritual is always the same. Mario Prushi carefully washes his hands and face before kissing and placing one of the world's smallest Korans on his forehead.

For generations, the postage stamp-sized book has been passed down in his family, having survived wars and the communist regime.

Researchers say it is one of the smallest Korans on record, kept inside a silver case that has tarnished over the years.

"We have preserved it from generation to generation with absolute dedication", says Prushi, 45 years old, who is in his home in Tirana.

The great history of the small Koran of Albania
It is difficult to know when the Qur'an is dated, in the absence of scientific analysis

Just two centimeters wide and one centimeter thick, the book almost disappears in the palm of Prush's hand and can only be read with a small magnifying glass that is placed in the Koran case.

The Quran is difficult to date in the absence of scientific analysis, but according to Elton Karaj, a Quran scholar, the 900-page copy has been around since at least the 19th century.

"This Koran is printed in a very small format, one of the smallest in the world. From the looks of it, its publication dates back to the end of the 19th century, it is a remarkable work, very valuable. It is lucky that this copy is in Albania", Karaj told AFP.

But its size is not the only remarkable thing about the Koran. He is also "responsible" for the conversion of the Prushi family from Catholics to Muslims.

"My great-grandparents were digging the ground for a new house in the Gjakova region of Kosovo when they found the perfectly preserved body of a man buried there," Prushi said.

"The Quran was found intact placed on his heart."

The family took the revelation as a divine sign and embraced Islam.

The great history of the small Koran of Albania
Mario Prushi kisses the Koran the size of a postage stamp in his home in Tirana.

His grandfather, an officer in the army of King Zog of Albania in the 1930s, knew Arabic and invited friends to his house every night to read verses from the Koran.

Years later, under the communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, who outlawed all forms of religion and sent all practicing believers to prison, the book survived in part because it could be so easily hidden.

"Someone had informed the secret police that we had a Koran in our house, but it was so small that my father managed to hide it. The agents moved heaven and earth and did not find him", says Prushi.

After the incident, Prushi's father, Skenderi, decided to entrust him to friends in neighboring Kosovo, taking him across the border hidden in a truck full of coal.

The great history of the small Koran of Albania
The Arabic text can only be read with a small magnifying glass embedded in the Koran case

He received it only after the war in Kosovo in 1999, where he was buried deep to escape the fighting.

Prushi then inherited the Koran shortly before his father's death in 2012.

"This little book holds many stories, blessings and miracles. He is very dear to me", says Prushi.

"Every time I touch him, I am touched," says his wife Blerina.

"When something goes wrong or when our daughter is sick, we feel reassured because we know that the Koran will protect us, it is a real talisman," she added.

The family has received numerous offers to sell it, including from museums, but Prushi says he has never thought of selling it.

"This Koran belongs to our family and will always remain with us", concludes Prushi.

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