Today, it was 11 years since the passing away of the World Grandfather of the Bektashians, Haxhi Dede Reshat Bardhi, on April 2, 2011. This high religious personality had the special respect of the religious and state communities, from diplomats, Albanian politicians, Bektashi believers everywhere in the whole nation. This renaissance of Bektashism, 31 years ago, on March 22, 1991, lit the spark of the reopening of the World Bektashian Headquarter and the tekkes and tyrbes in Albania, so much awaited by all believers. The prohibition of religion by law in 1967 by the communist regime brought its consequences for all religious beliefs in our country. Destruction of religion, persecution, imprisonment, shooting, the only atheistic country in the world returned. Dede Reshati said that "...it is a great privilege and honor for a small country like Albania to be the World Headquarter of Bektashism. May God grant love, blessing and brotherhood among believers." Dede Reshati, with his outstanding dedication and contribution, rebuilt from the foundations the ruins, the destroyed tyrbes, made the structural and statutory organization of the Grandmother and Quarters in Albania, the Balkans and the world. He continued in the wonderful tradition of the Bektashis, in the national renaissance, in the matter of the Albanian language, of the nation, of peace represented by personalities and great people who have made the history of Albania such as Skënderbeu, Ali Pasha Tepelena, the brothers Frashëri, Naimi, Abdyli and Sami Frashëri, Çerçis and Bajo Topulli, Ismail Qemali, Arqif Pashë Elbasani, etc. In the historical tradition, dervishes and fathers walked the path of the Bektashi tariqat in chastity and love for the Creator with the motto "There is no religion without a homeland". Dede Reshati stated that, "...35% of Muslims are Bektashi and the first tekke in Albania was created by the dervish of Haxhi Bektash Veli (the founder of Bektashism), Sari Salltik on Kruja mountain in 1325." Sari Salltik, the first man of Bektashism in Albania, had built the first Muslim mosque, the first mejtep and had also built the first teke. The Bektashi World Center came to Albania on January 28, 1930 by Great Grandfather Sali Niazi Dede, who led it until 1941.
Short biography of Dede Reshat Bardhi
Reshat Bardhi was born on March 4, 1935, in the village of Lusen in Kukës, in the North of Albania. At the age of 6-7, he started learning to read and write in Albanian and Arabic from the village headman, who happened to have a house next to the Bardhi tribe. Hoxha, who had completed religious studies in Istanbul. This instilled in the attentive boy the first theoretical expressions as well as those of the practice of Muslim religious rites. In 1944, the head of the family, Sinani, took the road and settled in the surroundings of Tirana, very close to the place where today the Holy See of the World Bektashi Patriarchate is located. Reshat continues his studies at school while spending his free time studying the Qoran. Thanks to his religious inclinations, he entered into long and pleasant conversations with dervishes and fathers who were in the Headquarter of Bektashi Community.
At the beginning of the 50s of the last century, Reshat Bardhi attracted the attention of the World Grandfather of that time, Ahmet Myftari. He became Bardhi's spiritual leader. In August 1954, Reshat Bardhi dressed as a dervish. In 1958, Great-grandfather Ahmet Myftari, together with dervish Reshat Bardhin, exiled him to the village of Drizar in Mallakastra, From 1958 to 1967, dervish Reshat would experience a series of tortures, but would not leave his spiritual leader nor from practicing of Bektashi religious rites. With the destruction of the buildings of religious cults in 1967, the dervish Reshat Bardhi came to Tirana, where until 1991, he worked as a manual laborer and lived with his brother, Rexhep Bardhi, and relatives. These houses have served as shrines, in which belief in Bektashi philosophy and mysticism was secretly kept alive.
With the revival of religious faith in 1991, he reorganized Bektashism in Albania with all its structures. Reshat Bardhi was declared the World Grandfather of the Bektashians, with the title "Dede", at the VI Bektashian Congress in 1993. In this position, he revived the Bektashi faith, rebuilt the cult objects inside and outside the territory of Albania and gave a excellent example of religious tolerance.
He has participated in dozens of conferences and international meetings of high religious levels in Albania and the world and has met with many of the highest personalities of the time, religious and official.
Among them, we emphasize that on March 22, 1991, Dede Reshat Bardhi received Mother Teresa and several sisters of her order from Colombia in Spain at the Holy See of the Bektashi World Headquarter.
SOME ASSESSMENTS FOR DEDE RESHAT BADHI.
Haxhi Dede Edmond Brahimaj: "...Dede Reshat Bardhi is a spiritual leader of international proportions, endowed with high religious values, nobility, patriotism, tolerance, intelligent, always ready for understanding and respect for different opinions."
Pilgrim Selim Muça: "... Pilgrim Dede Reshat Bardhi has always said that 'There is no religion without a homeland'. This honor is not a coincidence, because the time and history of our country teaches us that at the head of the important tasks towards the Albanian homeland and nation, there have always been the clergy and religious people, who with their faith in God, were inspired and ready to serve humanity..."
Dritëro Agolli: "..I knew a man who warms others not with gas canisters, but with a canister called heart, a man with popular wisdom, a rare lover and host, who only encouraged the approach, not the departure..."
Moikom Zeqo: "...I call myself lucky, that I got to know Dede Reshat Bardhi closely, one of the most emblematic figures of Bektashism. ...Everything about him was as magnificent, mystical as it was human...'
Edi Rama (at the inauguration of the Odeon): "..I don't know if this is the 'path' - to adapt to this moment a meaningful word for the Bektashi order - that the real architect wanted to follow in the privacy of his conscience of this miracle, the late and unforgettable Haxhi Dede Reshat Bardhi. ...You had to oppose the settlement of his people in the promised land, as well as Dede Reshati today sees the completion of the old trust for the construction of this shrine, this miracle, without it being physically possible here among all to his admirers and friends…”
Sali Berisha: "...Under the leadership of Baba Reshat, with the vision, wisdom, chastity, devotion to the Creator and love for humanity that characterized him, Albanian Bektashism and the World Headquarter rose like a phoenix on the fire of hope and faith..."
Monsignor Rrok Mirdita: "..Dede Reshat Bardhi is a spiritual leader of international proportions endowed with high religious values, nobility, patriotism, tolerance, wise, always ready for understanding and respect for different opinions..."
Anastas Janullatos: "..In a critical historical period for Albania, the Bektashian World Grandfather, Haxhi Dede Reshat Bardhi, contributed decisively to the cultivation of healthy religious experience, to the strengthening of religious tolerance and the harmonious co-existence of religious communities in Albania as and in every country of the world, where the Bektashi communities are located..."
