Sunday, August 1, 2021, is the day of the traditional annual pilgrimage to the tomb shrine of father Jashar Krena in Sopot of Dibra, a cleric known for his role as a religious, educator and patriot. The Bektashi World Leader, His Grace, Haxhi Dede Edmond Brahimaj, also participates in this pilgrimage.
Father Jashari was born in 1854. At the age of 17 he was handed over as a muhib and dervish to the Tekke of Sheh Memi Babai in Fushë-Kruja, by his myrshid, father Hysen Kukeli, who was a dervish of father Isufi, and ‘Baba ‘, by father Abdullah Melçani, in 1877. Father Jashari, after passing away from the life of Father Hysen Mali, is sent to Ballenja, to the blessed cave of Ballëm Sultan. .. He turned to his grandfather, the dervish Bajram Kalenderi, to tell us; “That the divine mission in the lap of Ballam Sultan will continue for the rest of his life.” Father Jashari, in 1899 sees the high erqan, and takes the title of Caliph in Hazrat Pir – Hajji Bektash. He saw these sacred ceremonies at his great myrshid Al Hajj Mehmet Ali Dede Baba. Father Jashari is said to have visited many holy places, such as Karbala, Najaf, the Aqsa Mosque in Palestine, and the five Quarters. Father Jashari, as a caliph, has give the hand yo many muhibs, from Elbasan, Kostenja, Martaneshi, Gryka e Madhe, Bulqiza, Kruja and Dibra e Madhe. He has also given the grade of clergy to many dervishes and fathers, as they were; dervish Selmani, dervish Isuf Tasha II, dervish Ramadan Cani, dervish Avdi Cuka, dervish Shaqir Mali, dervish Rushit Tolle, dervish Hajdari from Përmeti who after becoming ‘Baba’, left his deputy by trust. From these dervishes he chose to be the fathers of continuity; father Isufi II, father Rushit Tolle and father Hajdari.
Father Jashar Krena, as a prominent visionary and missionary, in 1883 founded the tekke of Bllaca, in the valley below the tomb of Father Isuf I, opening the way of guidance for the Little Gorge.
In 1898, He built the lower tekke in the village of Peshk of Martanesh. This tekke is still called the classroom and tekke of father Jashari. This tekke serves the believers during the winter period when the mountains are filled with snow. In 1882, father Jashari built the tomb of father Hysen Mali and father Metë Krajka, in Zerqan. In the tekke erected in the village of Peshk of Martanesh, right inside it, he prepared the place for the rest of his cab, on the east side, on the first floor of the tekke. Father Jashari left it in trust, “here I will rest temporarily where I will take care of this sacred land”.
From 1967, when all the cults of religions in Albania were destroyed and flattened, Father Jashari’s tekke miraculously survived. The regime of the time, took him to the hospital, to heal the wounds of the body, unaware that he was opening thousands of heart wounds within the soul of every believer. Father Jashari fulfilled his mission by leaving us the trust of the lower tekke that enjoys his holy name to return to the prophecy left by himself ‘here in this square, near this maple branch’, with his hand he stuck a border, saying: “Here will come the time when my body will rest for the second time, therefore this tree will be called from today the oak of Father Jashari!”. The oak is a divine miracle, where at the ends of its roots appears the border fixed by itself the blessed hand of father Jashari, which the maple has wrapped within itself, and only its head is visible…
Baba Jashari was not only a preacher of the faith, he himself was a multi-dimensional institution. Father Jashari served the national renaissance a lot, this is what the historical facts say. It was not by chance that he was found next to Abdyl Frashëri, where two assemblies met in Dibër e Madhe, on the eve of the Albanian League of Prizren. On June 10, 1878 Father Jashari was found as the delegate of this connection between Abdyl Frashëri and Iliaz Pasha Dibra. The latter was loyal and muhib to Father Jashari, and as such the assembly elected him chairman of the association. Father Jashari as a visionary of the times of the national renaissance was quickly spotted by various associations that exercised their patriotic activity outside the state borders. Suffice it to refer to the weekly newspaper “The unity of the Nation”, printed in Bitola, in the issue dated 22, Friday of autumn II of 1909, where it echoes the opening of the first Albanian school in the province of Martanesh. For this initiative is praised the courage and far-sighted thought of Father Jashar Krena, the father of the glorious Bektashi tariqat , who turned the lower tekke into the first Albanian school. This holy temple of knowledge and spirit, was founded by the enlightened Father Ali Jashar Krena in 1908.
Prepared by:
Bektash JANGULLI
