“NORAVAK” LECTURING ARAKS PASHAYAN: “ISLAM IN AZERBAIJAN”
On June 6, within the scheduled series of “Noravank” Foundation lecturing was delivered the lecture of a specialist of Arabic studies, PhD in History, Associate Professor A. Pashayan on “Islam in Azerbaijan.”
The lecturer pointed out that Azerbaijan is notable for its peculiar characteristic of Islam and is considered to be a traditional zone of spreading Islam. For about 70% of Muslim population are Shiites, 30% - Sunnis. Azerbaijan is one of the exclusive countries where Shiites make the majority of population: Iran is in the first place to be followed by Azerbaijan, Iraq and Bahrain. One of the peculiarities of Azerbaijani Islam is that in most of the cases Shias and Sunnis come up as a mix. In Azerbaijan there are also so called mixed mosques, where Sunnis Shiites pray by turn or together, which is quite a unique phenomena in the Islamic world. The Azerbaijani Shiites is the Shia branch of the 12 imams, which is known in Islam by the name Isnaasharia. This direction is also considered to be Iran’s official ideology and the most moderate direction of Shiites.
Deepening social tension in Azerbaijan reveals tendencies of politicizing Islam. The activity of Islamic structures is more efficient among needy circles of population, who consider Islam to be their support in the context of the state’s inaction. In this sense, Islam has a great potential of becoming ideological basis for social-political movements.
The lecturer mentioned that activation of the Islamic factor in Azerbaijan was furthered by the present social problems of the society, its polarization, corruption, moral devaluation, lack of democracy which resulted disappointment in traditional religious institutions and liberal values.
Today there are a few tendencies on the religious plane. There are separate circles which put forward the ides of making Islam the state religion, introduce Islamic laws into legal field, enlarge Islam’s influence in social life but not at all establishing a theocratic Islamic state. Among some circles of the youth and intellectuals one can observe religionism, as well as in Baku. In Azerbaijan, for example, have been raised the question of adopting laws on polygamy and temporarily marriages. It was claimed for the women not to be photographed without kerchief, which has got power of law since 1999.
The lecture was followed by active discussion among the students and specialists.
