Xhemal Deliallisi was born in 1880 in Shijak. His father Sali bey Deliallisi is thought to have been the founder of the modern city located along the Erzen River, near Durrës. He received his first lessons in the school of his hometown. He knew several foreign languages, such as Persian, Ottoman and Italian. In 1903 he started working in the administration of Shijak sub-prefecture, where he worked for several years. Under the influence of Dom Nikollë Kaçorri, Murat of Said Toptani, but also of the patriots in Thessaloniki, Bucharest and Istanbul with whom he had correspondences, he joined the national movement for independence. In the years 1908–1910 he openly positioned himself against the new policies of the Young Turks for the centralization of power. In autumn of 1912 he was one of the organizers of the volunteer fighters from Shijak for the protection of Shkodra from the Montenegrin and Serbian occupation.