Rexhep Voka
Born1847
Şipkovica, Kalkandelen, Ottoman Empire
Died1917 (aged 70)
Academic work
EraAlbanian National Awakening

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.[1] In 1868, Voka undertook religious studies in Istanbul where he worked as a professor after completing his education. Voka returned to Kalkandelen in 1895 where he became involved in the Albanian National Renaissance. In 1903, Voka was appointed Mufti of the Manastir Vilayet[2] and founded the first Albanian theological college in Üsküb (today Skopje).[3] In Monastir, before the Young Turk revolution, Voka started learning Albanian in Latin characters from Albanian Protestant missionaries.[2] In 1905, Voka attended the Pan-Albanian Congress organized in Bucharest. Headed by Albert Ghica, attended by Ismail Qemali and deliberated with Bucharest's Albanian community, the congress discussed the Albanian issue.

Rexhep Voka was a member of Bashkimi (Unity) at the time of the Young Turk revolution.[4] He printed an Albanian alphabet in Arabic script comprising forty-four letters, called Elifbaja shqip.[4] Tiranli Fazli then used this script to publish a thirty-two page grammar. Only one Albanian newspaper at the time ever appeared in Arabic script, and it lasted a brief period. Regardless of what script appeared, such material raised Albanian national consciousness.[4]

References

  1. ^ Ramiz Zekaj (2002). The Development of Islamic Culture Among Albanians During the 20th Century. Albanian Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation. p. 259.
  2. ^ a b Plas, Pieter; Detrez, Raymond (2005). Developing Cultural Identity in the Balkans: Convergence vs. Divergence (PDF). Brussels: presses interuniversitaires europeennes. ISBN 90-5201-297-0. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
  3. ^ Rexhep Voka
  4. ^ a b c Walter Gawrych, George (2006). The Crescent and the Eagle: Ottoman Rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874-1913. I.B.Tauris. p. 150. ISBN 1-84511-287-3. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
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