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Shahin Frashëri was an Albanian
bejtexhi The Bejtexhinj (in Albanian sing. ''bejtexhi'', pl. ''bejtexhinj''; from tr, beyte meaning "poem"), were popular bards of the Muslim tradition, literally meaning "couplet makers". It means the same in the Albanian literature, firstly muslim poet ...
of the 19th century. His ''Mukhtarnameh'' poem is one of the longest and earliest epics in
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. Al ...
.


Life and work

Shahin (Shahinin) Kaso Frashëri was born in
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 ...
, today's
Përmet District Përmet District ( sq, Rrethi i Përmetit) was one of the 36 districts of Albania, which were dissolved in July 2000 and replaced by 12 newly created counties. It had a population of 25,837 in 2001, and an area of . Its area has an Aromanian min ...
, back then part of the Janina Vilayet of the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
. He was the younger brother of the other poet
Dalip Frashëri Dalip bey Frashëri, also known with the pen-name Hyxhretiu (the exiled), was an Albanian Bektashi sheikh and bejtexhi of the 19th century. His poem ''Kopshti i te mirevet'' (Garden of the martyrs) is the first and the longest epic known in the ...
, and uncle of the Albanian poets and National Awakening activists
Naim Naim (also spelled Na'im, Nayeem, Naeem, Naiem, Nahim, Naheem, Nyhiem, Nihiem, Nyheim, Niheem, or Nahiem) ( ar, نعیم, he, נעים) is a male given name and surname. Notable persons with the name include: *Naim ibn Hammad (died 843 AD), H ...
,
Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...
, and
Abdyl Frashëri Abdyl Dume bey Frashëri ( tr, Fraşerli Abdül Bey; 1 June 1839 – 23 October 1892) was an Ottoman Albanian civil servant, politician during the First Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire, and one of the first Albanian political ideologue ...
.World Bektashi Headquarters Teqeja e Frashërit - Vatër e zjarrtë (in Albanian)

Not much is known on his life. He left his name in the Albanian literature with his poem ''Mukhtarnameh'' (Book of Mukhtar), sq, Myhtarnameja, an epic poem of around 12,000 verses. It describes the events post
Battle of Karbala The Battle of Karbala ( ar, مَعْرَكَة كَرْبَلَاء) was fought on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram in the year 61 AH of the Islamic calendar) between the army of the second Umayyad Caliph Yazid I and a small army led by Husayn ...
of 680 AD where
Husayn ibn Ali Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, أبو عبد الله الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب; 10 January 626 – 10 October 680) was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Abi ...
got killed, an important event in the chronology of
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
. Frashëri describes the rebellion of
Mukhtar al-Thaqafi Al-Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubayd al-Thaqafi ( ar, المختار بن أبي عبيد الثقفي, '; – 3 April 687) was a pro-Alid revolutionary based in Kufa, who led a rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate in 685 and ruled over most of Iraq ...
of 66 AH (corresponding to 685-6 AD), and the Alid movement in vengeance for the death of Husayn ibn Ali.
Frashëri finished his work in 1868. He used a Turkish version as base or intermediary model, though the original is in Persian. It is one of the latest major
Bektashi The Bektashi Order; sq, Tarikati Bektashi; tr, Bektaşi or Bektashism is an Islamic Sufi mystic movement originating in the 13th-century. It is named after the Anatolian saint Haji Bektash Wali (d. 1271). The community is currently led by ...
-
Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...
work written in Albanian using the
Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or a script directly derived from it, and th ...
. By that time, the National Awakening had started and Bektashis of Albania switched to the new Albanian scripts. According to the Jordanian professor Muhammad Mufaku al-Arna'ut, who has studied in detail the early Arabic script based Albanian poetry, the ''Mukhtarnameh'' together with the ''Garden of the martyrs'' (Alb: ''Kopshti i te mirevet'') of Frashëri's brother Dalip, established a
subgenre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
of its own within the Albanian poetry. They served as base model for the later work of the Albanian nationalist poet Naim Frashëri named ''Qerbelaja'' (
Karbala Karbala or Kerbala ( ar, كَرْبَلَاء, Karbalāʾ , , also ;) is a city in central Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad, and a few miles east of Lake Milh, also known as Razzaza Lake. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governor ...
), and also for the epic ''Istori' e Skenderbeut'' (History of
Scanderbeg , reign = 28 November 1443 – 17 January 1468 , predecessor = Gjon Kastrioti , successor = Gjon Kastrioti II , spouse = Donika Arianiti , issue = Gjon Kastrioti II , royal house = Kastrioti , father ...
), published in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...
in 1898. Very short excerpts of ''Muktarnameh'' have been published so far.


See also

* Haxhi Ymer Kashari


References

{{Albanian Literature , state=collapsed 19th-century Albanian poets People from Gjirokastër County Sufi poets Albanian Sufis Bektashi Order People from Janina vilayet Albanian-language poets Shahin