In the third decade of the effort at improvement

An excerpt from the lecture “Renewal: in the third decade of the effort at improvement”.

In this Prishtina Talks presentation, Hoxha Ekrem Avdiu — an imam since 1988 — opens an evening of three speakers on three decades of effort at improvement.

Starting from his own concrete memories as a young man newly back from his studies in Medina (the small number of pilgrims from Kosovo, people who fasted without praying, imams in turbans but with no beard, a young man walking into a mosque and being met with surprise), Hoxha Avdiu sets the state of things then against the state of things now — a difference not even the greatest optimist of the time would have hoped for.

In the second half he reflects on what experience teaches: the need to move from enthusiasm to wisdom, from euphoria to awareness, and from individual speed to the safety of walking together. He ends with a gentle invitation: Islam is not noise, it is the truth.

Some of the points covered: 📌 Memories from 1988: the first sermon, and Kosovo 35 years ago 📌 When fewer than 200 pilgrims a year went from Kosovo 📌 Imams in turbans without beards, and sermons in Arabic and Turkish 📌 When a young man in a mosque was met with surprise 📌 The difference between the generations, and the quality of “holding to Islam” today 📌 “If only I had had this sense back then…” — what experience teaches 📌 A glass of awareness over a sea of enthusiasm 📌 “Walk more slowly, but walk more surely” — togetherness over haste

📍 Prishtina Talks