Baba Rexheb - Bektashi Career

Bektashi Career

In 1954, Baba Rexheb 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 Misticizma Islame dhe Bektashizma (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 Fuzûlî. 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 also spoke modern Turkish fluently, had scholarly knowledge of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish and spoke Greek, Italian and some English as well. Some of his amiable style of guidance and softhearted charm has been noted down by the American Anthropologist Frances Trix in several of her academic works on the tekke as well as on master-student relationships in traditional Sufism.

Baba Rexheb died on August 10, 1995 (Rabi' ul-Awwal 12, 1416 Hirah). His türbe (mausoleum) is located on the tekke grounds and is open for pilgrims and truth-seekers of all walks.