Azerbaijan: Does Wahhabism Pose A Threat?

RFE/RL Sunday
07 August 2005

By Liz Fuller

Addressing a 3 August conference in Baku on “Religion and National
Security,” Rafik Aliyev, chairman of the Azerbaijani government’s
Committee for Work with Religious Formations, warned that the increased
activity of “Wahhabis,” meaning members of radical and/or unregistered
Islamic groups, poses a threat to political stability in Azerbaijan in
the run-up to the 6 November parliamentary elections. Reports of at
least one, possibly two National Security Ministry operations against
Wahhabis in recent weeks would seem to substantiate Aliyev’s apprehension.

The first such crackdown took place on the night of 12-13 July, when
National Security Ministry personnel raided the village of Novkhany near
Baku, killing two “armed Wahhabis” and arresting six others. Some 30
more suspected Wahhabi sympathizers were apprehended in the district in
the following days, day.az reported on 4 August, quoting the father of
Emil Novruzov, one of the young men in question.

Also on 4 July, the National Security Ministry refuted media reports
that its operatives arrested 11 Wahhabis during a raid on a Baku mosque
the previous day and are monitoring attendance at several other mosques.

In the wake of the July arrests, Azerbaijani Deputy Interior Minister
Vilayat Eyubov was quoted by day.az as saying that he does not believe
the situation in Azerbaijan is conducive to the spread of Wahhabism. “I
do not believe that they will be able to put down roots in Azerbaijan
and attain their desired [objective],” he was quoted as saying. At the
same time, Eyubov admitted that there is a constant flow of information
about suspected Wahhabi sympathizers, and that information is
systematically evaluated.

In contrast, popular Imam Ilgar Ibrahimoglu believes that Wahhabism does
indeed pose a danger for Azerbaijan. Ibrahimoglu told zerkalo.az that
“it is no secret to anyone that radical Wahhabi groups have been active
in Azerbaijan for several years,” and that there is no indication of a
weakening of that trend. Ibrahimoglu attributed the appeal of Wahhabism
to the lack of democracy, frequent human rights violations, and the
authorities’ clumsy repression of less radical but unregistered
religious communities. (Ibrahimoglu’s own Djuma Mosque in Baku has been
subjected to repeated pressure and harassment over the past two years.)

Parliament deputy Ramiz Akhmedov blamed the growing popularity of
radical Islam on the “primitive, 19th-century” approach of the
officially registered Muslim clergy that, he claimed, alienates
believers and impels them to seek “pure Islam,” zerkalo.az reported on
18 January. Some, Akhmedov continued, opt for Shi’a Islam, some for
Sunni Islam, and others for a third alternative that he did not name.
Adherents of radical Islam then seek to take advantage of young
believers’ interest in studying the fundamentals of their faith. And
supplying such knowledge has apparently become a major industry:
Akhmedov pointed out that religious literature is freely available both
in Baku and elsewhere, written in contemporary Azerbaijani and printed
in both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.

According to zerkalo.az on 4 August, Wahhabism has taken root above all
in the northern and central districts of Azerbaijan, and in Baku. That
geographical pattern suggest that Wahhabism first penetrated from
Daghestan, which borders on Azerbaijan to the north. So-called Wahhabis
in several remote villages challenged the Daghestani authorities in
1999, and the Russian media consistently blame Islamic fundamentalists
for the almost daily terrorist bombings and killings in that republic.

The online daily echo-az.com similarly registered a strong Wahhabi
presence in northern Azerbaijan, but in an article on 18 January
entitled “The ‘Wahhabization’ of Azerbaijan is continuing,” it claimed
that there is also a Wahhabi presence in the south of the country. The
same article listed other ways in which young Azerbaijani believers are
exposed to radical Islam: when studying theology abroad, and while on
pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Former Deputy National Security Minister Sulhaddin Akper enumerated
various ways in which the Azerbaijani authorities could counter Wahhabi
propaganda: by raising the level of religious education, screening more
stringently applications from persons wishing to perform the hajj, and
lodging a formal protest with the government of Saudi Arabia, which is
perceived as an exporter of radical Islam. Akper said it is up to both
the Foreign Ministry and Azerbaijan’s official religious bodies to take
appropriate action.

But according to the government’s Committee for Work with Religious
Formations Chairman Aliyev, the Board of Muslims of the Caucasus (UMK),
instead of acting to avert the subversion of Islam in Azerbaijan by
radical tendencies, is actively encouraging them. Aliyev claimed in
mid-July that on two occasions within the previous three months, state
customs officials have intercepted and confiscated consignments of
radical Islamic literature addressed to the UMK. Aliyev said the first
consignment of books weighed 14 tons and the second 10 tons.

But UMK officials claimed that the literature in question was in Arabic,
Uzbek, and Kazakh, and was intended for shipment to Uzbekistan. They
said the consignments were sent to Baku “by mistake.” On 4 August,
Caucasus Press quoted Aliyev as saying customs officials intercepted a
further consignment of radical literature two days earlier, and that
such shipments are sent to Azerbaijan via Turkey and Georgia.

Speaking at the 3 August conference on “Religion and National Security,”
Aliyev said that he thinks the recent arrests of “Wahhabis” were
justified, according to zerkalo.az on 4 August. He called for “serious”
work to explain government policy to the leaders of religious
communities in the run-up to the 6 November election.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress