Today, it's been 27 years since Father Rexhepi, a well-known cleric and leader of this Bektashi institution, passed away in Detroit, USA. Baba Rexhebi was born on August 10, 1901 and passed away on August 10, 1995. On this day, in the Bektashi Holy See, in Detroit, USA, as well as in grandmothers inside Albania and abroad, activities are held commemorative.
The World Grandfather Bektashian, His Holiness, Haxhi Dede Edmond Brahimaj, through a message, commemorates this outstanding cleric.
"Dear brothers, clerics, myhibans and Bektashi believers in the world! Dear friends and spiritual and biological relatives of father Rexheb! God's peace and blessings be upon you! May Ahli-Bayti fulfill every wish in your dear families! Today we commemorate the 27th anniversary of the death of our brother, the prominent cleric and Bektashi mystic, father Rexhebi. He opened the first teahouse in Detroit, USA, with the unstinting help of Fan Noli. Baba Rexhebi left behind an excellent work. Let's take it further! Let us humble ourselves with the deepest respect for this great Bektashi and Albanian..." - it is said, among other things, in the message of Dede Edmond Brahimaj.
FOREWORD OF THE BOOK "ISLAMIC MYSTICISM, OF BABA REXHEBIT, WRITTEN IN DETROIT MICHIGAM, JUNE 29, 1967
Bektashism is known all over the world. It has traversed all the Muslim countries of the world and has left an unforgettable mark everywhere. There have been successes and defeats throughout the centuries of her life. Therefore, the whole world has become interested and curious about it, so much so that many books have been written in favor of and against it. Thus it became a legendary thing and remained immortal.
And in Albania, a great curiosity about Bektashism arose, especially in these recent times of Albanian Independence. Everyone wanted to know something about Bektashism. Unfortunately, the books that have been written in the Albanian language on Bektashism are very few. Therefore, the great desire of the people, to know Bektashism and its philosophy, has always remained unfulfilled.
We have always had the idea to write something on this subject, to give the Albanians a complete idea about Bektashism, but it has remained today and tomorrow, always incomplete due to the circumstances of different times. On the occasion that the Bektashian Tekke was launched here in the United States of America, in 1954, we tried, in cooperation with the Tekke commission, to issue for this purpose a temporary one with the title "Voice of Bektashism" and we issued four numbers of it. . But the small budget of the country prevented us from continuing it.
The book written by our beloved, the child of the path of Haxhi Bektashi, Xhevat Kallajxhiu, was published by Tekke in 1964, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of its foundation, it awakened more thoughts and ignited even more the fire of the desire to search for more details. extensive on Bektashism. For this reason, pushed by many Bektashism supporters, this time we set about writing this book, in order to fulfill this old desire.
We thought that, for it to be a complete thing, we should also give explanations on the root and source of Bektashism, which is Islamic mysticism. For this reason, we gave this book the title "Islamic Mysticism and Bektashism". Of course, such an undertaking would be difficult, especially in our conditions, that we are isolated from Albania and do not have the resources we had there. But fortunately, we recently got hold of two books of this category, one by Istanbul University professor Mehmet Ali Ajni, titled "Tesavvuf Tarihi" (History of Mysticism) and the other by Omer Riza, titled "Islamiyetin gelistir digi tesavvuf ” (Mysticism raised in Islamism). We have benefited a lot from these books. We liked them and we got a lot of material from them, which served us for the first part of our book. We have also sung other books on this subject such as "Marifetname" (Knowledge) by Ibrahim Haki; "Turk Edebiyatinde ilk mutesavvifler" (The first mystics in Turkish literature) by Qoprili Mehmet Fouadi; "Shehi Ekberi niçun severim" (Why I love Shehi Eqberi) again by Professor Mehmet Ali Ajni, and many other works of this type. For the second part of our book, we sang the book "Ask Risalesi" by dr. Bedri Noyan; the book "Miratul-meka sid fi defil meka sid" (Overview of goals for the elimination of confusing misunderstandings) by Ahmet Rifati; the book "Bektasi Sairleri" (The Bektashi Ancestors) by Sadedin Nuzhet Ergun; the book "Fevaidul Fukara" (Benefits of the Poor) by Haxi Bektashi; the book "Bektasi Nefesleri" (Nefese Bektashijane) by Ziya Sakir; the book "Pir Sultan Abdal" (Pir Sultan Abdalli) by professor Gulpunarli, and many books and divans such as those of Nesimi, Kajgusez, Fuzuli, etc. We never pretend that we have done a great thing, but we believe that in this way we give an idea more or less complete for those interested in Albanian singers. And we remember that it is the first time that books of this type have been written in the Albanian language. In this way, we pave the way for others to come out to write books on this subject, so that our native language will be enriched with books of this type, as all the languages of the civilized world have. Of course, mystical philosophy is very subtle, so it should be sung slowly and carefully. In particular, in order to understand the spirit of the poems well, everyone begs to refer to the explanations we have given among them, for all those poems that are closed. Hoping that we find a good climate, which would encourage us to write other books in this field, more extended and more useful for Albanian singers, we are closing the conversation, begging for your support and praying to God to Great to bring us out successfully. Amin!
Detroit, Mich.
On June 29, 1967