Bektashism in Albania
[1][2] In regards to ethics, the Bektashi adhere to the line "Be master of your hands, your tongue, and your loins" which essentially means do not steal, do not lie or speak idly, and do not commit adultery.
[3] In Albania, the Bektashi Order has taken on a patriotic and nationalistic character, and it has played a major role in the Albanian National Awakening.
[6] During Evliya Çelebi's travels in the southern Balkans in the second half of the 17th century, the presence of Bektashi teqes in Mitrovica and Kaçanik in Kosovo during 1660 was noted.
Additionally, during Çelebi's tour of southern Albania in the summer of 1670, he also noted the presence of Bektashi teqes in Kaninë and Vlora.
However, contrary to what many Bektashi intellectuals had hoped for, the sect did not become the Albanian national religion, especially due to the fact that the Order was disproportionately concentrated in the south of Albania.
With the conclusion of the First World War, stability returned to the surviving Albanian Bektashi community, and many teqes were rebuilt in the early 1920s.
The order declared itself to be a religious community of its own - autonomous from mainstream Islam - and they initiated the Kryegjysh system, with their Kryegjyshata in Tirana as their headquarters.
[5] After World War II, the Albanian Partisans seized control of the nation and established a Stalinist regime.
The new community, under Baba Reshat Bardhi, has since worked to revive the Order, and the Kryegjyshata of Tirana was reopened on 22 March 1991, during Novruz.
This reopening was attended by other religious figures in Albania, such as Mother Teresa, and a Sixth National Congress of the Bektashi occurred on 19–20 July 1993.
After the Auspicious Event and the persecution of the Bektashi Order throughout the Ottoman Empire, Bektashism emerged amongst Albanians with nationalism and anti-Ottoman sentiment - the order's historical conflict with the Ottoman authorities contributed to their nationalist, anti-Turk stance, which went hand-in-hand with the liberation heterodoxy that predominated in Albanian Bektashi philosophy.
It is this same heterodoxy and ability to assimilate external influences that enabled the order to fully integrate Albanian nationalist doctrine within its system, which made it extremely popular in Albania.
They would spread nationalist ideas and hold national and local meetings for like-minded patriotic groups and individuals within their teqes.
In his text - Fletore e bektashinjët (The Bektashi Notebook; 1896) - Frashëri explained and to an extent founded the novel theological and practical principles of Bektashism and the organisational rules surrounding its functioning.
Frashëri's text is devoid of religious fanaticism, mystification and dogmatism, and it insists on ethics and moral principles.
Under Frashëri's intellectual influence, the development of Albanian Bektashism showed that esoteric knowledge was not exclusive to a particular genealogical lineage more so than any other Sufi order, but instead acquired via spiritual progression that was closely related to the expression of Albanian national sentiments and the implementation of patriotism as the highest of virtues.
[5] The Atës, or Babas, were significant contributors to the Albanian National Awakening, culminating in some of them being imprisoned or suffering more severe punishments for their efforts.
Efforts by the Young Turks to send imams and dervishes to promote the use of the Arabic script by winning over the Bektashi clergy were thwarted and ignored.
In Albania, the World Headquarters of the Bektashi (Albanian: Kryegjyshata) divides the country into 6 different administrative districts (similar to Christian parishes and patriarchates), each of which is called a gjyshata.
[9] The Albanian Bektashi Order in Kosovo is centred around Gjakova and is currently under the leadership of Baba Mumin Lama.
