Arabati-Baba-Tekke

The Arabati Baba Tekke (2008)

The Arabati-Baba-Tekke ( Macedonian Арабати баба-теќе , Albanian Teqja e Baba Harabatit ) is a Tekke of the Bektaschi in the north Macedonian city of Tetovo . The tekke was originally built around the Türbe of Sersem Ali Baba , an Ottoman dervish , in 1538 . In 1799 a Waqf , made available by Rexhep Pasha , established what is now the Tekke lands. His grave is in the garden of the shrine.

history

According to legend, Ali was a vizier of the Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent , who had a dream that inspired him to leave the sultan's services and pursue the Sufist path . After hearing this, the Sultan replied, "If you want to be a sersem (fool), go." Subsequently, Ali came to be known as Sersem Ali Baba.

Sersem Ali finally went to Tetovo to settle there, at that time an insignificant small town of the Ottoman Empire. It attracted a great number of like-minded mystics; one of them was Harabati Baba , who built a Türbe on the side of today's Tekke after noticing the presence of a candle, a symbolic image in the Bektashi belief where there was none before.

In 1945 the Tekke Society (dergâh) was closed, and in 1948 the Tekke was set on fire by bandits. During the Yugoslav era, the shrine was rededicated as a tourist facility; a hotel, a bar and a disco were set up. With the break-up of Yugoslavia, the reopening of the Winter House and the Central House revived the Tekke Association. After the framework agreement of Ohrid 2001, the areas used as hotel and restaurant were closed.

controversy

In 2002 a group of armed members from the Islamic Community of Macedonia (ICM), the legally recognized organization that claims to represent all Muslims in Macedonia, entered the Arabati Baba Tekke and attempted to convert it into a mosque although the facility was never used as such. Subsequently, the Bektashi community of Macedonia, headed by Baba Edmond Brahimaj , sued the government for failing to restore the Tekke for the Bektashi community - under the law from the early 1990s that nationalized property would be returned under the Yugoslav government (the law is more concerned with reimbursement to private individuals than to religious communities). The ICM's claim to the Tekke is based on their claim that they represent all Muslims in Macedonia; it is one of only two Muslim organizations recognized by the Macedonian government - both Sunni . The Shiite Bektashi community also submitted a request to the government for recognition as a separate religious community in 1993, but recognition was refused.

In March 2008, ICM members crouching on the site took control of additional buildings, intimidated visitors to the Tekke and stole the weapons in the Tekke. In 2010 some areas were finally taken over by force by the Sunnis.