Xhemail Abria


Xhemail Abria was a Kosovar wise old man and intellectual born in Abria village, Drenica region, Kosovo.

Background

He was the son of Sefer Kuçi. Educated at home as a youth, he worked as a shepherd. Though self-taught, he was precocious and participated in the popular education of the time.

Career

He was awarded the title Pleqnar i Kosovës at the Junik Assembly of 1877 and raised his profile by attending the inaugural meeting of the League of Prizren in 1878. He represented Drenica at the subsequent meeting, presided over by Binak Alia, where the Karanarme decree was signed. Alia later passed the chairmanship on to Abria. In addition, he participated in the 1899 Assembly of Peć and Deli Prekazi's Drenica revolt in 1903.

The People's Genius

Xhemail Abria was known by three surnames: Abria, the honorific Aga, and Seferi. Rising from illiteracy to a connoisseur's understanding of the philosophy, history, and geography of the Albanian people, he was given the sobriquet of Gjeniu i Popullit.
An apocryphal example was his response to a query from a village elder named Rexhë Hyseni from Belo Polje, near what is now Istok. The man asked Abria to solve a thorny dispute between two local clans over a family gravesite too old to otherwise identify. Abria suggested the following, akin to a crude version of modern DNA analysis:
Exhume one of the dead and get a bone from therein. Summon one man from each family and obtain a drop of blood from each. Put each drop on the bone and see which one is absorbed into the marrow, awarding the site to that drop’s bloodline.

Quotes

  • Fjala n`kamë nuk peshon rand!
  • Ma pive kafen e ftoftë!
  • Gratë s`um dulen po i pashë!
  • Mos e kapërce masën as për t`mirë, as për t`keq!
  • Burri e ka burrninë n`tre kat!
  • Dikush vdes pa hi n`dhe!
  • Nuk vnohet perça n`krye t`huej!
  • Fjalën e pleqnarit dhe armën e trimit s`ka kush si i nalë!
  • Asht zor m`e ba anmikun mik, se mikun anmik e ban kur t`dush!
  • Dy pipa dalin prej ni cungu...!
  • Me hasmin duhet me i mat fjalët se preket!
  • Tri sene s`duhet me i keshë: vllaun e keq, gruan e keqe e kojshin e keq!
  • Katër sende nuk mund me mi fsheh askush: diturinë dhe budallakun, pasurinë dhe fukarallakun!
  • Hoxhë, kno ma shpesh n`qitape, se dijenia pa hyzmet asht si llamba pa gaz, që nihere jep pak dritë, e dikur shymet krejt!