Abdyl Dume bey Frashëri (, or Abdullah Hüsni; 1 June 1839 – 23 October 1892) was an Ottoman Albanian civil servant, politician during the First Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire, and one of the first Albanian political ideologues of the Albanian National Awakening. During his lifetime Frashëri endeavoured to instill among Albanians patriotism and a strong identity while promoting a reform program based on Albanian language education and literature.
He was one of the initiators and a prominent leader of the League of Prizren. He distinguished himself as a political personality from the 1860s through early political assignments. He founded the Central Committee for Defending Albanian Rights in Istanbul. He furthermore served as a chosen representative for the Yanya Vilayet in the Ottoman Parliament during the First Constitutional Era, 1876–1877. During the communist regime he was proclaimed with the honour Hero of Albania.
Early life
Abdyl Frashëri was born in 1839 in the village of Frashër in the Vilayet of Janina to a distinguished Muslim Albanian family of Bektashi religious affiliations. Abdyl, alongside his brothers Naim, Sami and 5 other siblings were the children of Halit Bey (1797–1859) and their paternal family traditions held that they were descendants of timar holders that hailed from the Berat region before coming to live in Frashër. While their mother Emine Hanım (1814–1861) was descended from Imrahor Ilyas Bey, a distinguished 15th century Ottoman Albanian commander from the Korçë area.
Being the eldest brother of Naim Frashëri and Sami Frashëri, Abdyl Frashëri spent his youth to age 18 in his home village and eventually moved to Yannina where he lived for more than 20 years. His father, Halit Bey Frashëri, was a Tosk Albanian bey and commander of an irregular army, composed of Albanian militia contingents. His military service was to bring order to the unsettled territories of the Rumelia province, mainly inside Albanian-inhabited territories. He saw duty in areas such as Toskëria, Gegëria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Thessaly and Macedonia with the last two often on the verge of uprisings by Greek rebels. During these expeditions, Abdyl was part of his father's military contingent and served as a captain of the Albanian forces.
His father died in 1859 and so Abdyl became the head of the household, as his five brothers and two sisters were all younger than him. After two years, his mother died. So Frashëri became head of the household and moved the family to Ioannina. He was posted as a clerk and governor of the Ioannina house, along with his two younger brothers. He dedicated himself to his studies, and worked with scholars in Ioannina, in particular with the notable Albanian müderris Hasan Tahsini from whom he learned Arabic, Persian, French, and Greek. Frashëri also studied science, philosophy and maths. After he had finished his studies, he became engaged and married Ballkëze, the daughter of myfti Ibrahim Frashëri from the Lahçenja family and Xhenfize Çoku the family of Çokollarëve, who were also known as Aliçkas. Ballkëze bore Frashëri six children. The first son was born in 1874 and was given the name of his grandfather, Halit. The child died in infancy. The second son, born in 1876, was also named Halit, and also died young, as did the two later sons, both named Feridun. Of all the children, five sons and one daughter, born to Frashëri and Ballkëze, only their third son, Mit’hat Frashëri and their daughter lived. She was named after Frashëri's mother, Emine.