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Sulejman Rexhepi (Macedonian: Сулејман Реџепи; born 1947) is the former leader of the Islamic Religious Community of Macedonia.

Life

Sulejman Rexhepi was born in 1947 in the village of Gorno Svilare, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He completed his primary education in the village and had secondary theological education in Pristina's madrasa "Alauddin". Rexhepi graduated from Kuwait University, specializing in law and sharia. The Isa Beu madrasa and Faculty of Islamic Studies in Skopje were co-founded by him. Rexhepi was a dean of the faculty. He became the leader (Reis-ul-ulema) of the Islamic Religious Community of Macedonia in 2006 and was re-elected several times after. A power struggle emerged between him and Skender Buzaku over the leadership of the Islamic Religious Community in 2019, with the latter self-proclaiming himself as head of the community. The Skopje Basic Court ruled in Buzaku's favor on 17 April but the decision was revoked by the Appellate Court. The Islamic Religious Community removed him from his position in 2020 and Shaqir Fetahu succeeded him.

Personal life and views

In 2010, he supported the proposal to change the Macedonian constitution to define marriage strictly as a union between a man and a woman, as well as to prevent same-sex couples and single parents from adopting children. In 2012, Rexhepi made the following statement to an Albanian-language newspaper Zhurnal Plus: "The unification of Albanian lands was God’s will and we have an obligation to restore things as they were. The unification of the forces of the Albanian people at all levels will become a reality and Albania will have its authentic borders, the ones that God created." The statement was criticized by the head of the National Commission for Relations with the Religious Communities, a professor of the sociology of religion, and a politician. Albanian president Ilir Meta awarded him with the Order of Skanderbeg in 2018.

In a speech at the village Arnakija, during the ceremony for the reconstruction of a mosque on 14 March 2019, he stated: "We will not allow obstruction and prevention of the construction of mosques. We will never be silent. We hope, Godspeed, that better times will come, and we will construct mosques everywhere, we have people and location of village Lazhec, Bitola region, where for more than 100 years they have not had a mosque. Imagine, what kind of life we share with this wild nation. This is the reason why these nameless and wild people have no identity and will never have one, although we want to help them. They cannot be helped, soulless people never come to their senses." The statement received criticism as an example of hate speech in the media and by the civic organization "Civil". The Macedonian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights filed charges of hate speech against him for the statement. The Basic Public Prosecution in November opted not to charge him. In 2019, the Network for Protection against Discrimination and the National Network for Combating Homophobia and Transphobia strongly condemned his homophobic statement in response to a journalist question about the ultimatum given to him by Buzaku to resign from his position. In 2020, he got married. He has a son.

References

1. Blaže Ristovski, ed. (2009). Makedonska enciklopedija [Macedonian Encyclopedia] (in Macedonian). MANU. p. 1270. ISBN 9786082030234.
2. Jocelyne Cesari (2015). The Oxford Handbook of European Islam. Oxford University Press. p. 488. ISBN 9780199607976.
3. ^ "North Macedonia's Islamic Community Shows Stormy Leader the Door". Balkan Insight. 27 May 2020.
4. Ina Merdjanova (2013). Rediscovering the Umma: Muslims in the Balkans Between Nationalism and Transnationalism. Oxford University Press. p. 47. ISBN 9780199964031.
5. ^ "Rivals Battle to Lead North Macedonia Islamic Community". Balkan Insight. 24 April 2019.
6. "The Court of Appeals revoked the decision of the civil court, Rexhepi remains the Head of the IRC". Sloboden Pecat. 2019.
7. "North Macedonia, Muslim Community leader voted out after refusing lockdown". Euronews. 27 May 2020.
8. "Macedonia Faiths Unite Against Gay Marriage". Balkan Insight. 31 December 2010.
9. "Cleric's Call for United Albania Upsets Macedonia". Balkan Insight. 29 November 2012.
10. "IRC head Rexhepi receives Albanian order Skanderbeg". Nezavisen. 25 January 2018.
11. "Counter-spin: Sulejman Rexhepi through a spin ended in hate speech". Meta.mk. 10 May 2019.
12. ""Civil": Reis Sulejman Rexhepi must be held accountable for hate speech". Meta.mk. 10 April 2019.
13. "The Head of Macedonia's Islamic Religious Community Sulejman Rexhepi will not be tried for his hate speech towards the Macedonians". Meta.mk. 27 November 2019.
14. "Coalition Margins: Rexhepi to apologize to gay people, and IRC to initiate proceedings against him". Sloboden Pecat. 2019.
15. "Verbal War between Rexhepi and Buzaku with Insults, Defamation and Inconsistent Statements". Truthmeter. 7 October 2019.
16. "The Ministry of Interior detained two people after the shooting in which the son of the former head of the IRC was injured". Sloboden Pecat. 2020.

External links

• 1947 births
• Living people
• Grand Muftis
• North Macedonia people