Macedonia Mayor Dismisses Threat of Divine Punishment

The mayor of Prilep has acted to calm religious tensions in Macedonia after the head of the Muslim community, Sulejman Rexhepi, wrote on Facebook that Allah would strike him down for his alleged role in the burning of the Charshi-Mosque in Prilep in 2001.

The mosque went up in flames on August 8, 2001 during the short-lived Macedonian conflict and has not been rebuilt. The arson attack was the work of ethnic Macedonians after Albanian insurgents had killed several soldiers from the town in an ambush near Karpalak.

“Dear brother Muslims, this is the mosque in Prilep that in 2001 was burned by a group of 30 people. They were all punished by death by the magnificent Allah,” Rexhepi wrote on Facebook on Wednesday under a picture of the burned mosque.

“Many were eliminated among themselves, and not so long ago four of them lost their lives in car accidents. The next to the last died yesterday on a motorcycle,” Rexhepi noted, adding that “The last of them, as it seems, is Marjan Risteski who will face the punishment from the almighty Allah.”

The prediction of divine punishment by a religious leader in Macedonia is seen as unprecedented. The Muslim community, the IVZ, has confirmed that the post was authentic.

“He has published only what has been determined by God,” Abaz Islami, the spokesperson of IVZ, said, adding that, “It is bad that they had burned the mosque and that it has not been rebuilt to this day.”

Mayor Risteski said that he forgave Rexhepi for his ill intended words, however.

“In the spirit of Christianity I forgive him for his clumsy reckless and unlucky statement. I appeal to all who felt hurt by this statement to refrain from further reactions as its aim is to provoke...