Bismilahi Rrahmani Rrahim!
In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful!
Dear Bektashi believers of Gjakova and Kosovo!
Dear my brother, father Mumin Lamaj!
Let me congratulate you on this glorious day of the jubilee of the founding of the tekke, as the Bektashi World Leader and the millions of followers of Haji Bektash Veliu. May the Most High reward your devotion to unwavering faith, bringing peace and prosperity to your families!
240 years ago, in our wonderful Gjakova, in the Gjakova of men who would worship the destinies of our nation, in the sacred symbol of religious harmony, between mosques, churches and cult objects of different sects of Islam, the Bektashi tekke would also lay its foundations. Hostile invasions in the Arberian land, over the centuries, plexed with each other not only ethnicity, language and race, but also different civilizations, religions or beliefs. But the Albanians at all times and the people of Gjakova in particular, always kept the national feeling intact in their soul, by no invader, by any preacher. Our national motto that “without a homeland, there is no religion”, has come strong to this day.
My thousand sisters and brothers!
A day like today, we certainly had to celebrate with great enthusiasm. Not as simple as the birthday of a cult object. But as the birthday in Gjakova of a tariqat, which in its essence, brought brotherhood and understanding without any conditions. Brotherhood of souls and minds, according to the wonderful principle that before God, we are all equal. Our tekke, from its very beginning, was added to the ensemble of the international construct of Kosovo, proving not only the devotion of the believers of Haxhi Bektash Veliu, but also their national spirit, which was not extinguished in any case, but remained a companion of permanent with the fragile fate of the Albanians in these lands.
Numerous documents of Albanian and Balkan historiographies speak very clearly, especially about the contribution of the Gjakova tekke in the years of the Albanian League of Prizren, when the further existence of our lands was discussed. The tekke of Frashëri, that of Shememi Babai in Kruja, that of Bllaca in Dibër and that of Gjakova, led by prominent clerics and under the influence of the Albanian and the great Bektashi, Abdyl Frashëri, joined the Albanian autonomist movement, turning into hearths of anti-Ottoman spirit. There were even some Bektashi clerics who, after the oppression of the Albanian League of Prizren, were imprisoned, convicted and dissolved in the prisons of the Ottoman Empire, but never bowed down.
The believers of the Gjakova tekke have demonstrated their pure patriotism at all times, in the years 1910-1914, in the years 1940-1944, to come in the last years of the last century. We will respectfully remember that many of the sons of the UCK, who filled the ranks of the Gjakova platoon, had grown up in this tekke, with the most valuable moral principles for God, Haxhi Bektashi,and the homeland. We can not forget for a moment, the young lives of those sons of the UCK who gave their lives for the freedom of the nation. I am happy to remind you today, in these few lines, of the respect of the millions of believers for every fallen and every UCK fighter who sacrificed everything for international prosperity. A deep gratitude goes today also to the allies, the United States of America, who, throughout the last century and still to this day, have stood by us in the most difficult days.
Dear believers!
We are going through difficult days of the world pandemic and we could not carry out an activity as this date deserved. Yes, God Almighty will help us and with the will of all, we will pass these moments. I would like today, all of us, to bow in silence, with great respect, in front of the names of Bektashi clerics who have served in this tekke for 240 years. May their memory remain a guide in our journey. Honor and respect also for father MUmin Lamaj, who for years, without getting tired, spreads Bektashi peace and wisdom in Gjakova.
God bless you all!
Amin!
Speech of the Bektashi World Leader,
His Grace,
Haxhi Dede Edmond Brahimaj