Xoraxane (term)

Xoraxane (also spelled as Khorakhane, Khorakhanè, Horahane, Kharokane, Xoraxai, lit. ‘those of the Quran’) is a Romani term of Turkish origin used to refer to Muslim Romani people.^[1] Muslim Roma generally trace their faith back to ancestors who converted during the Ottoman period in the Balkans. While they remain primarily concentrated in the Balkans, they are also dispersed across other parts of Europe.^[1][2]

Muslim Roma are often cultural or nominal Muslims.^[3][4] While traditionally affiliated with Sunni Islam of the Hanafi school of thought, today, they are often non-denominational. One of the largest religious orders of Jerrahi outside Turkey is located at the largest Arlije and Gurbeti Muslim Romani settlement in Europe, in Šuto Orizari (Shutka), North Macedonia. They have their own mosque and Romani Imam^[5] and use the Quran in the Romani language.^[6]

Muslim Roma generally preserve enduring influences of Ottoman Turkish culture, as shaped within former European provinces of the Ottoman Empire.^[7][8] 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 countries. The Albanized Muslim Roma groups from Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia, speak only the Albanian language and are called Khorakhan Shiptari; they have fully adopted the Albanian culture.^[9]

Diaspora in the Americas

United States

The first Xoraxane came to the United States from Yugoslavia (from what is now North Macedonia) around 1960s and settled in the Bronx, where they built a mosque and were cultural Muslims. They typically have minimal ties with other Romani people in America. Later, during the Balkan war in the 1990s, a group of Muslim Roma came from Bosnia and settled in St. Louis, Missouri.^[10][11]

Chile

A small group of Xoraxane came from Serbia around the 19th century and settled in Chile, where they converted to the Catholic faith and broke with Islam but by the end of the 20th century, these Xoraxane had all adopted Adventist evangelical beliefs, however they practice Qurban (Islamic ritual sacrifice), which they call it Kurbano.^[12]