Baba Rexheb - Early Life

Early Life

Baba Rexheb was born as Rexheb Beqiri, on 18 August 1901, into a family with strong Bektashi ties in Gjirokastër, southern Albania, at a time when Albania was still part of the Ottoman Empire. His father, Refat Beqiri, was a local mullah in the old mahale of Dunavat. Refat’s family had originally migrated to southern Albania from the Kosovar town of Gjakova. 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. For the next twenty-five years he served in the Asim Baba Tekke, under the guidance of his uncle, Baba Selim. During the World War II, 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, Egypt. He stayed there for several years before he was invited to go to the United States by his younger sister, Zainep.