The feast of Sultan Nowruz marks the beginning of the new year, according to the Bektashis, and coincides with the birthday of Imam Ali in Kaaba. This day is considered all over the Alevi world as the day of Bektashi nobility and the day of the great resurrection. On this day everything is revived, there is hope, a resurrection for all mankind. It is a new day when everyone hopes for a better future.

In Albania the Sultan Nowruz Day, the most important holiday of Bektashism, was decreed as a national holiday in 1996.

In our country, the Bektashi sect is located mainly in the south of the country to spread all across the territory of the Republic of Albania.

The Bektashis are widespread in Kosovo and Macedonia, where along with the Sunnis they constitute the Albanian population of the Muslim faith.

Representatives of Bektashism have made a great contribution to the national cause, starting from the period of National Renaissance, Independence and during the war for Liberation.

Bektashiyyah, Turkish Bektaşi, order of Sufi mystics was founded, according to their own traditions, by Ḥājjī Bektāsh Walī of Khorāsān. It acquired definitive form in the 14th century in Anatolia (Turkey) and spread to the Ottoman Balkans, particularly Albania.

During the National Renaissance period, the Bektashis sided with the efforts for freedom and the national language, including activists Father Alushi of Frashëri and Father Hyseni of Melçan.

A number of their tekkes turned into centers of the national movement. After the Lushnja Congress, Bektashism was officially recognized as an independent religious community. In 1924 the world headquarters of Bektashism moved from Anatolia to Tirana. Under the pressure of the communist regime, Bektashism, as part of its religious ideology, ceased to exist in 1967, only to resume in 1991.
/sm/