ABSTRACT
The territories which today are part of the Albanian State had been included in the Ottoman Empire between the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century. They were situated on the western fringe of this huge entity, and they were more or less put under the real authority of the sultan. Especially where there were high mountains, they could have a kind of autonomy under the leadership of local leaders. For various and complex reasons, Islamisation was an important phenomenon among the Albanian population from the sixteenth century onwards until the end of the Ottoman era (beginning of the twentieth century).1 The Sufi networks found also a fertile land and spread considerably in it at different periods.
