et'hem bey was the son of molla bey of petrela, from one of the prominent families of the tirana area, back then part of the ottoman albania. he is descendant of sulejman pasha bargjini, who gave the main contribution to the development of tirana as a commercial and religious center. his family was an opponent of the powerful toptani family and with connected to the bushatlliu family of shkodra. as a result, abdyl rahman toptani exiled him away from tirana. he would reconcile later with the ottoman rulers by joining the ottoman campaign against mustafa pasha bushati in 1831.