Dervish Himan Ibrahim Mehmet Naxhi Bust

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Dervish Hima, born Ibrahim Mehmet Naxhi in 1872, was a prominent Albanian politician of the 19th century who traveled extensively to promote Albania through his writings. As a publisher and nationalist figure, he used articles and pamphlets to spread awareness about Albania's cause. Born into a landowning family in Ohrid, Dervish Hima attended school in Monastir and Salonika before studying medicine for two years in Istanbul. Initially supporting the Young Turk movement, he began questioning the Albanian question during his studies. Dervish Hima was an outspoken opponent of Ottoman rule in Albania, authoring several radical manifestos that called for a full-scale struggle against the Ottoman Porte. As a result, he was closely monitored by Ottoman authorities and imprisoned multiple times. His work as an Albanian literary figure led to his arrest after returning from Shkoder following a prolonged stay in Europe. In Bucharest, Dervish Hima edited Pavarësia e Shqipërisë (The Independence of Albania), a short-lived periodical published in 1898 in Albanian, French, and Romanian. The following year, he was forced to leave Romania for Rome, where he collaborated with Mehmed bey Frashëri on Zën’i Shqipënisë (Voice of Albania). This fortnightly publication was issued in French and Albanian from 1899. In 1903, Dervish Hima launched L’Albanie in Geneva, a periodical that he continued as a monthly from 1905 to 1906 in Brussels. In 1909, he operated Shqipëtari-Arnavud (The Albanian) in Istanbul with Hilë Mosi, a Turkish and Albanian weekly subsidized by Austria–Hungary. This publication ceased at the end of 1910 after being banned. Dervish Hima was one of the signatories to the Albanian Declaration of Independence in November 1912. Following Albania's independence, he remained actively engaged in public life, serving as a school inspector for Tirana's district under Austro–Hungarian authorities from 1917. Two years later, in 1920, he became the first director of the Albanian press office. Dervish Hima passed away in 1928.