The Bejtexhinj (in
Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
sing. ''bejtexhi'', pl. ''bejtexhinj''; from tr, beyte meaning "poem"), were popular bards of the Muslim tradition, literally meaning "
couplet
A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...
makers".
It means the same in the
Albanian literature
Albanian literature stretches back to the Middle Ages and comprises those literary texts and works written in Albanian. It may also refer to literature written by Albanians in Albania, Kosovo and the Albanian diaspora particularly in Italy. Alba ...
,
firstly muslim poets, that engaged in
beit
A Beit (also spelled bait, ar, بيت , literally "a house") is a metrical unit of Arabic, Iranian, Urdu and Sindhi poetry. It corresponds to a line, though sometimes improperly renderered as " couplet" since each ''beit'' is divided int ...
poetry.
This genre of literature created in
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
in the 18th century that prevailed in different cities of what is now
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
,
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
,
Chameria
Chameria ( sq, Çamëria; el, Τσαμουριά, ''Tsamouriá''; tr, Çamlık) is a term used today mostly by Albanians to refer to parts of the coastal region of Epirus in southern Albania and Greece, traditionally associated with the Alban ...
as well as in religious centers.
The spread of Bejtexhinj was a product of two different significant factors. There was a demand in religious practices to write in
Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
and to free it from foreign influence. The other factor was the accretion of ideological pressure from Turkish rulers. The ruling
Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
sought the submission of Albanians through the Muslim religion and culture. Albania rulers opened their own schools with many Bejtexhinj poets in attendance.
History
The Bejtexhinj wrote
Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
in the
Elifba alphabet, an adaption of the
Ottoman Turkish alphabet
The Ottoman Turkish alphabet ( ota, الفبا, ') is a version of the Arabic script used to write Ottoman Turkish until 1928, when it was replaced by the Latin-based modern Turkish alphabet.
Though Ottoman Turkish was primarily written in thi ...
, often with heavy influence from Ottoman Turkish in the form of loanwords. Bejte literature had two development phases. The first lasted until the end of the 18th century and was characterized by
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
themes. The second phase, from the end of the 18th century and through the 19th century, had a predominantly religious character. Of the secular works, many Bejtexhinj wrote about the positive values of love, natural and feminine beauty, virtues, works, knowledge and also alluded to the negative traits of ambition and hypocrisy.
Bejtexhinj who worked in this vein were
Nezim Frakulla,
Sulejman Naibi Sulejman Naibi (Ramazani) was an Albanian early period poet of the bejtexhinj era.
Life
Not much is known from his life. He was a contemporary and arguably less-important to the other ''bejtexhi'' Nezim Frakulla. Naibi was born in Berat, Sanjak o ...
and
Muhamet Kyçyku. A further step in the literature was initiated when other Bejexhinj such as
Hasan Zyko Kamberi
Hasan Zyko Kamberi was a distinguished bejtexhi (bard) writer of Albanian literature.
Overview
He was born in the second half of the eighteenth century in Starje, a southern Albanian village near Kolonja at the foot of Mount Gramoz. All that ...
and
Zenel Bastari reflected on the events of the time, describing the hard lives of the poor, the insecurities of the future, and their discontent at the conditions of
feudalism
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
.
The literature of the Bejtexhinj did not achieve national prestige on its own, but the poets provided a valuable addition to
Albanian literature
Albanian literature stretches back to the Middle Ages and comprises those literary texts and works written in Albanian. It may also refer to literature written by Albanians in Albania, Kosovo and the Albanian diaspora particularly in Italy. Alba ...
. They wrote in Albanian, for example, at a time when it was banned by the ruling Ottomans. Aside from its religious themes, Bejte literature was the first to widely utilize secular themes. Some authors of this type were closer to the people and included in their poems elements of daily life, using realistic social themes with a strong critical sensibility.
Importance
With Bejtexhinj works, Albanian poetry made another step artistically, being composed of expressions and imagery that are truly artistic in value. Bejtexhinj authors also blended Albania's traditional poetry, mainly the eight-line poems that all poets used. Their works were spread through written copies or verbally. The number of poets that this era produced is considerably large coming from cities such as
Berat
Berat (; sq-definite, Berati) is the ninth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Berat County and Berat Municipality. By air, it is north of Gjirokastër, west of Korçë, south of Tirana, and east of Fier.
Berat is located in th ...
,
Elbasan
Elbasan ( ; sq-definite, Elbasani ) is the fourth most populous city of Albania and seat of Elbasan County and Elbasan Municipality. It lies to the north of the river Shkumbin between the Skanderbeg Mountains and the Myzeqe Plain in central Al ...
,
Shkodër
Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra) is the fifth-most-populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. The city sprawls across the Plain of Mbishkodra between the southern part of Lake Shkod ...
,
Gjakova
Gjakova, ) and Đakovica ( sr-Cyrl, Ђаковица, ) is the seventh largest city of Kosovo and seat of Gjakova Municipality and Gjakova District. The city has 40,827 inhabitants, while the municipality has 94,556 inhabitants.
Geographicall ...
,
Pristina
Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...
, and smaller towns as
Kolonjë,
Frashër
Frashër (; sq-definite, Frashëri; rup, Farshar) is a village and a former municipality in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Përmet. The population at the ...
, and
Konispol
Konispol ( sq-definite, Konispoli) is the southernmost town in Albania. It sits one kilometer away from the Border crossings of Albania, Albanian-Greek border. The settlement is inhabited by Muslim Cham Albanians. Konispol is the modern centre of t ...
.
The flow of Bejtexhinj literature lost its influence at the beginning of the 19th century, but in some places like Kosovo, this tradition lasted even longer from authors such as
Maliq Rakoveci and
Rexhep Voka
Nuredin Rexhep Voka (1847 - 1917) was an Albanian alim, mufti, writer and a prominent activist of the Albanian National Awakening.
Biography
Rexhep Voka was born in 1847 in the village of Şipkovica, Tetovo. In 1868, Voka undertook religious stu ...
.
References
Sources
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Albanian literature
Kosovan literature
Islamic poetry