Teqe of Baba Ali

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Teqe of Baba Ali" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The tekke is said to have been founded initially around 1767, but the site may possibly be older due to the presence of ancient ruins, which most probably sat upon an old trade route from Skrapar to Përmet. The tekke was re-founded by Baba Ali in 1857 or 1860. It was again re-founded in 1903 by Baba Abdullah, who was originally from the tekke of Konica and whose tomb is located within the tekke. Baba Abdullah and Baba Dule Përmeti were supporters and participants of the Albanian National Awakening, particularly in regards to the Albanian language during 1908–1909. Greek andartes burnt down the tekke in 1914, but it was rebuilt in 1920. On 14th–17 January 1921, the tekke was represented by Baba Meleq at the First National Congress of the Bektashi. In 1923, it was visited by Margaret Hasluck, who encountered one baba and three dervishes. It was closed in 1967 during the Communist period, due to the Albanian communist party's crackdown on religion, and torn down by the surrounding villagers. Reconstruction began in 1997, and the tekke reopened in May 2003.^[3][4]

In the past and the present, the tekke of Alipostivan has been an important site of pilgrimage for the Albanian Bektashis, due to the fact that Abdullah Baba —considered by many in the region to be a Bektashi saint —was buried and is still venerated here. Many men in the region still bear the first name Abdullah. The Bektashi villagers of Kosinë gather at the tekke of Alipostivan for prayer, particularly on the feast of Novruz.^[5][6][7][8]