Haxhi Ymer Kashari known also asYmer Mustafa Kashari was anAlbanianbejtexhi of the 18th century.
Haxhi Ymer was born inTirana in early 18th century.[1] Back then part of theSanjak of Scutari of theOttoman Empire, Tirana was already flourishing as an oriental-style town. Haxhi Ymer was asheikh (Sufi leader) of theQadiri order ofSufism, a less spread order going towards extinction inAlbania.[2] Most of his work is lost because of earlier lack of interest in him. His nameHaxhi indicates that he had completed hishajj inMecca. He used thepen nameSuzi. The outerfacade of theportal ofEt'hem Bey Mosque in Tirana has an inscription written by him with his pen-name as signature.[3]
Haxhi Ymer was abejte poet who wrote in two languages:Albanian andTurkish. From a few odes that are saved to date, one is of special interest. It is namedAlif and it is one of a kind due to the specific structure it introduced to Albanian poetry of those times. The poem is based on the letters of theArabic alphabet and thus has 28 verses, each verse starts with a unique letter in alphabetic order. The first starts withalif and the last withyā’. This type of verse introduced by Haxhi Ymer became a tradition in Albanian poetry and had many followers.[1]
Though heavily laden with Oriental vocabulary,[4] his work haslinguistic significance due to the specific Tirana areaGheg dialect of the Albanian language (part of the Central Gheg branch), being the oldest written piece in this dialect.[1]
Autor i këtij mbishkrimi është Haxhi Ymer Mustafa Kashari, i cili, në krijimtarinë e vet poetike, përdorte pseudonimin "Suzi"...
