Baba Rexheb

Baba Rexheb was the head and founder of the Bektashi Sufi lodge ( tekke ) located in Taylor, Michigan , United States .¹ Rexheb Beqiri was born into a family with strong Bektashi ties in the southern Albanian town of Gjirokastër on August 18, 1901 CE/1318 AH, at a time when Albania was still part of the Ottoman Empire. He entered the Bektashi Order at the age of sixteen and was promoted to the rank of dervish at the age of twenty. He chose to take an additional vow as a mücerrid (celibate) dervish, which was never broken. During the Second World War, Dervish Rexheb became and outspoken critic of the communist partisans under Enver Hoxha . Because of this he was forced to flee following the war. He spent four years in a displaced persons camp in Italy before taking up residence in the Kaygusuz Sultan Tekke in Cairo. He stayed there for several years before he was invited to come to the United States by his younger sister, Zainep. In 1954 Dervish Rexhep was promoted to the rank of baba by the head of the Kaygusuz Tekke, Ahmed Sirri Dede, and established the First Albanian American Bektashi Monastery in the Detroit suburb of Taylor. Baba Rexheb spent the next forty-five years building the Bektashi community in North America. He wrote one book, the voluminous Misticizme Islame dhe Bektashizme (partially translated into English as Islamic Mysticism and Bektashism ) as well as completing a full-translation of the famous Turkish epic poem Hadikat-i Su'ada about the Battle of Karbala by Fuzuli . Baba Rexheb also produced four issues of Zeri Bektashzme , the tekke's periodical. He was a man of great spiritual integrity and his love and compassion attracted Muslims, both Bektashi and Sunni alike, as well as Christians, Albanians and non-Albanians. His encyclopedic knowledge of Islamic Sufism in general and Bektashim in particular were incredible. In addition to his native Albanian, Baba Rexheb spoke Turkish fluently, had scholarly knowledge of both Arabic and Persian, and spoke Greek, Italian and some English as well. Some of his amiable style of guidance and softhearted charm has been noted down by American scholar Frances Trix in several of her academic works on the tekke as well as on master-student relationships in traditional Sufism. Baba Rexheb "walked to the Truth" on August 10, 1995 CE/Rabi' ul-Awwal 12, 1416 AH having lived a full and blessed life. His turbe (mausoleum) is located on the tekke grounds and is open for pilgrims and truth-seekers of all walks.²