Baba Rexheb

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Picture of Baba Rexeb (below in green frame) in the Arabati-Baba-Tekke of Tetovo

Rexheb Beqiri (born August 18, 1901 in Gjirokastra , Ottoman Empire , † August 10, 1995 in Taylor , Michigan ), better known by his honorary name Baba Rexheb , was an Albanian scholar of Islam and Sufi . He was the founder and worldwide chairman of the Bektashi Sufilogues in the United States .

Early life

Baba Rexheb was born on August 18, 1901 in the then Ottoman Gjirokastra as Rexheb Beqiri into an Albanian family with strong ties to the Bektaschi. His father, Refat Beqiri, was the local mullah in the ancient mahale of Dunavat. Refat's family originally came from the Kosovar city ​​of Gjakova . At the age of sixteen Rexheb entered the Bektashi order and rose to the rank of dervish at the age of twenty . He opted for an additional vow as mücerrid ( celibate ), which he never broke. For the next twenty-five years he served in the Asim-Baba-Tekke under the direction of his uncle Baba Selim. After the Second World War , Dervish Baba Rexheb became a critic of the communist dictatorship under Enver Hoxha . Therefore he was forced to leave the country. He spent four years in a refugee camp in Italy before residing in the Kaygusuz-Sultan-Tekke in Cairo , Kingdom of Egypt . He stayed there for several years before being invited to the United States by his younger sister Zejnep Cuçi.

Career as a scholar

In 1954, Baba Rexheb was promoted to the rank of baba by the Dedebaba of the Kaygusuz-Tekke, Ahmed Sirri Dede , and founded the First Albanian-American Bektashi- Tekke in the Detroit suburb of Taylor .

Baba Rexheb spent the next forty-five years building the Bektashi church in North America. Because the Bektaschi, who had their world center in the Albanian capital Tirana since their expulsion by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1925 , were bloody persecuted under the totalitarian dictator Enver Hoxha , the community continued to live in exile. Baba Rexhep wrote the extensive book Misticizma Islame dhe Bektashizma (translated into English as Islamic Mysticism and Bektashism ) and completed the translation of the Turkish epic Hadikat-i Su'ada about the Battle of Karbala by Fuzūlī . Baba Rexheb also authored the Zeri Bektashzme , Tekke's monthly magazine . He was a man of great spiritual integrity, and his love and passion attracted both Bektashi and Sunnis , as well as Christians, Albanians and non-Albanians. He had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of Islamic Sufism in general and Bektashism in particular.

In addition to his native Albanian , Baba Rexheb was fluent in Turkish and had proficiency in teaching Ottoman , Persian and Arabic . In addition, he spoke Greek , Italian and English .

Baba Rexheb died on August 10, 1995 (Rabi 'ul-Awwal 12, 1416 Hijra ). Its Türbe (mausoleum) is on the bottom of the Tekke near Detroit and is open to pilgrims and visitors areas.

Web links

  • Baba Rexheb - Multi-page biography, quotes and works on the Taylor-Tekke website

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Baba Rexheb 1901–1995: The Bektashi Order of Dervishes. Retrieved October 7, 2010 .
  2. ^ Curtis Edward E .: Encyclopedia of Muslim-American History, Volume 1 . Infobase publishing, 2010, ISBN 0-8160-7575-1 ( online ).
personal data
SURNAME Baba Rexheb
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rexheb Beqiri
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Albanian scholar of Islam
DATE OF BIRTH August 18, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Gjirokastra , Ottoman Empire
DATE OF DEATH August 10, 1995
Place of death Taylor , Michigan , United States