Dalip Frashëri

Dalip bey Frashëri, also known with the pen-name Hyxhretiu (the exiled),[1] was an Albanian Bektashi sheikh and bejtexhi of the 19th century.[2] His poem Kopshti i te mirevet (Garden of the martyrs) is the first and the longest epic known in the Albanian literature.[3][4]

Dalip was born in Frashër, today's Përmet District, back then part of the Janina Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire. He was the son of Kaso Frashëri, brother of poet Shahin Frashëri, and uncle of the Albanian poets and National Awakening activists Naim, Sami, and Abdyl Frashëri.[2] A dervish originating in a family with strong Bektashi roots, and played an important part in the local tekke there.[3][5] Not much is known on his life, except that he work for years on his poem Garden of the martyrs.[3] He finished it in 1842,[4] while being interned in the tekke of Konitsa by the Ottoman authorities.[2][4]

Frashëri used the Arabic alphabet in his work. Although he was the author of other poems,[2] the one that remains from him is the Garden of the martyrs (Alb: Kopshti i te mirevet). It tells the story of the Battle of Karbala, which had previously influenced Shia and Sufi literature.[4] It was finished on 21 Rabi II 1258 in Islamic Calendar, which corresponds to 6 June 1842.[3] This information comes from some of the verses:

Hadikanë bërë teqmil,... (The fulfilled garden,...)
ndë këtë mubareq sene, (on this happy year,)
që është pesëdhjet' e tetë, (that is fifty-eight,)
ndë rebi-yl ahirënde, (in this stately spring,)
njëzet e një dit vërtet, (twenty-one days really,)
sonte ditën e xhuma. (tonight that is Friday.)

A poem of around 56,000^[a] verses based on the region's specific sub-dialect of Tosk,[2] it is the earliest and longest epic piece written in Albanian language. It is believed to have been intended for ritual ceremonies in tekkes and home rituals during the mätam.[3]
While is based on the work of Azerbaijani poet Fuzûlî, also named Hadîkat üs-Süedâ (حديقت السعداء; "Garden of martyrs"),[5] it is the first attempts by Bektashi Albanians to rival Fuzûlî and show the significant impact of Bektashism in Albanian life of those times. While Fuzûlî used both poetry and prose for his poem, Frashëri relied only on verses. The poem includes information on Albanian customs, festivals, and sensibilities. For instance, it gives details on the Mätam ritual, where the Bektashis refrain from drinking water. Therefore, even if it seems that Frashëri's initial idea was to translate and adapt Fuzûlî's work, it ended up as a truly national and comprehensible composition on its own.[3]
The poem is divided in ten sections, and is preceded by an introduction. The intro tells the story of the Bektashism in Albania, with plenty of information believed he gathered from Baba Shemin of Krujë and Nasibi Tahir Babai, both Bektashi important figures of that time. The poem cites the sect's important personalities, latter additions, and propagation. It follows with the history of the Arabs before Islam, the work of the Prophet, his life and death, and events that led to the Karbala tragedy. The Battle of Karbala is described in detail; Frashëri eulogizes those who fell as martyrs, in particular Husayn ibn Ali.[3]

The poem is believed to have served at a some extend as base model for the later work of the Albanian nationalist poet Naim Frashëri named Qerbelaja (Karbala), and also for the epic Istori' e Skenderbeut (History of Scanderbeg), published in Bucharest in 1898.[3][6] It is one of the latest works written in Albanian using the Arabic alphabet.