THE HUNT ON VAHHABITS HAS LAUNCHED IN AZERBAIJAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.10.2007 GMT+04:00

As soon as the first terrorist blows himself up with the name of
Allah, the hopes for the democracy rehabilitation in the country will
be nullified.

Last night a special operation was carried out on the territory of
Sabayli in Baku, during which four vahhabits were caught and the imam
of vahhabits, Mirza Alibek oglu Alibekov was arrested. During the
search a large bulk of religious literature was seized from him. The
rise of this radical grouping in Azerbaijan is most likely connected
with the latest events in the Middle East, and particularly with the
Kurdish-Turkish confrontation.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan has been one of the strong bases of
vahhabits, along with Chechnya. It is enough to remind, that the
very followers of this branch of radical Islam fought as mercenaries
during the Artsakh War, including well known Shamil Basayev, Khatab
and other Chechen field commanders.

The Ministry of the National Security of Azerbaijan prevented
the attempts of terrorist acts in Baku, by arresting a group
of vahhabits. At the same time the Ministry of National Security
prevented the attempts of terrorist acts against several government
institutions in Baku, as well as embassies and diplomatic missions in
the capital of Azerbaijan, because of which the US and UK Embassies
were temporarily closed. According to the representative of state
committee on works with religious organizations Khidayat Orujeva,
vahhabit groupings acting in Azerbaijan are controlled by foreign
powers, as well as their representatives in the Republic, says Day.az.

Regardless the assertions of the Ministry of National Security of
Azerbaijan according to which the atmosphere in the country is quite
stable, it can hardly be spoken about stability in the country where
various radical Islamic groupings act openly. No matter how much the
official figures of Baku insist that "Azerbaijan is developing very
quickly", in fact the country is buried in corruption, ignorance
and poverty, what, according to experts in terrorism and Islam is
the right environment for development of such groupings. It is not
by chance that there are military men among vahhabits. The customs
ruling the Azerbaijani army, where the death is always attributed to
"shootings from the Armenian side", the only way to survive is starting
a fight against Aliyev’s regime by all possible means.

Vahhabits are already a probe-tested scenario.

Vahhabism is a study which has appeared in Islam recently. This is
a study, which was created by the religious figure of Saudi Arabia
Mohamed ibn Abdul Vahhab in the middle of the XVIII in the frames of
Suniism. The main ideology of Vahhabism is monotheism.

The followers of this study deny all the innovations in Islam, such
as worshiping saints and imams, like it is accepted among Shiites,
and insists on worshiping Allah only. In spite of the big difference
between the views, Vahhabits advocated brotherhood and unity in the
Islamic world, condemned luxury, achieved social harmony and adherence
of principles of morals. The study of Abdul Vahhab was once supported
by many Arab sheiks. Later Vahhabism became a religious-political
study, and then the official ideology of Saudi Arabia, as well as of
a number of Arab Emirates.

According to the newspaper "Zerkalo" groupings striving to "reestablish
justice" by means of force, i.e. punishing "the enemies of Islam and
criminals" by the name of Allah, develop in the Azeri society. "All
we need is serious socio-political reforms, which would prevent
terrorism by depriving it from its resources. But as soon as the
first terrorist blows up himself with the name of Allah, the hopes
for the democracy rehabilitation in the country will be nullified,"
writes the newspaper. Political scientist Ilgar Mamedov said that
the USA could supply Azerbaijan with something which had brought to
realization of special operation. "Most likely the information about
these groupings has been provided by Azeri special services during the
latest visit of the Director the Central Intelligence Agency General
Michael Hayden to Azerbaijan," thinks Mamedov. Other experts think
that ultraconservative religious attitudes rise in Azerbaijan and
the question of controlling of the Islamic radicalism comes to the
first plan together with other very important issues.