Islamic Religious Community of Macedonia

The Islamic Religious Community of Macedonia or IRC (Albanian: Bashkësia Fetare Islame e Maqedonisë or BFI, Macedonian: Исламската Верска Заедница во Македонија or ИВЗ) is an independent religious organisation of Muslims in the Republic of Macedonia. The headquarter of the community is in Skopje and the current leader, titled Reis-ul-ulema, is Sulejman Rexhepi.

There has been organized Islamic religious life in Macedonia since the time when Ottoman Empire started administering this region. All Muslims who lived in the Ottoman Empire were part of the Muslim community headed by the sultan, who replaced the role of the caliph. During the reign of the Sultan Murad II the competences of the caliph were transferred to the grand mufti. Since then, the grand mufti was titled Sheykhul-Islam and was considered the highest religious authority within the Ottoman Empire. However, every region inhabited by Muslims had its own mufti, who was in lower position than the Sheykhul-Islam. After the First World War, Macedonia was under the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The Islamic community of the Kingdom was headed by Reis-ul-ulama, whose office was in Sarajevo. The Reis-ul-ulama responsibility was to organize the Islamic Religious life in Bosnia and Hezegovina, Croatia and Slovenia, whereas in Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Kosovo the Islamic Religious life was organized by the Supreme Mufti (that was in a lower position than the Reis-ul-ulama), whose office was in Belgrade.After the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the competences of the Supreme Mufti were transferred to the Ulama Majlis in Skopje and the competences of the Reis-ul-ulama were transferred to the Ulama Majlis in Sarajevo. The newly formed Ulama Majlises formed the Rijaset of Islamic Community with its head office in Sarajevo. After the Second World War the Islamic Community of Macedonia became part of the Islamic Community of Yugoslav Federation (Rijaset), with its office in Sarajevo. After the Breakup of Yugoslavia and the independence of Macedonia, this community continues to act as an independent religious community in Macedonia, based in Skopje.

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Wikipedia