Religion

Religion

Names of some banned religious books announced in Azerbaijan â€“ LIST

Names of some banned religious books announced in Azerbaijan â€“<font color=red> LIST </font>

29 April 2009 11:25 (UTC +04:00)

The notion â€œreligious communityâ€ is one of the notions approached delicately in Azerbaijan. It is surprising that there are hundreds of religious communities in the country, 96 percent of the population of which are Muslims, and most of these communities are Muslim. Though Azerbaijan is considered one of the main countries, where religious tolerance exists, reports often spread about pressures on the religious communities, arrests of their members. Are they true? If these reports are true, it means that the statements about tolerance, protection of freedom of religion are only words? Maybe those arrested do not serve â€œpunishmentâ€ for their religious faith.

Human rights defender Eldar Zeynalov told APA that freedom of faith, free activity of religious communities is envisaged in Azerbaijanâ€™s Constitution. He said there were some problems in some laws.
â€œIt is mainly connected with the freedom of assembly and activity of foreigners. There is church of Orthodox Christians, church of Catholics and synagogue of Jews in Azerbaijan. Heads of these communities are foreigners. But it is not allowed to invite heads of Baptists and Jehovahâ€™s Witnesses from abroad. There is double standard here,â€ he said.

Zeynalov also touched on a problem with regard to the activity of religious communities. He said the worst situation was concerned Muslim communities, not Christian communities.
â€œDouble registration is set as a condition in these communities. Registration in the State Committee for Religious Associations and Caucasian Muslims Office is very important. But some communities do not want to obey this office. The situation becomes complicated. Thatâ€™s why, most of the Muslim religious communities remain unregistered. For example, â€œIcherisheher Juma mosqueâ€ Religious Community,â€ he said.

Gunduz Ismayilov, chief of religious organizations department of the State Committee for Religious Organizations, told APA that 534 religious communities had been registered in Azerbaijan. The department chief said 32 of them were non-Islamic communities and 502 Islamic communities. Ismayilov said there were 1750 mosques in Azerbaijan, 800 of them functioned.
â€œApproximately, 300 religious communities function without registration. Some mosques have only five visitors. So, it is not right to consider gathering of five people a community,â€ he said.

Ismayilov said any person can assemble at least 11 people, establish a religious community and apply for its registration.
â€œBut there are tens, hundreds of mosques in Azerbaijan, where the number of prayers is not enough to establish a community,â€ he said.

The committee official said no religious community was banned and no unregistered community faced with pressure in Azerbaijan. â€œNo religious communities, including Jehovahâ€™s Witnesses and Baptist, were banned in Azerbaijan. Jehovahâ€™s Witnesses was registered in Baku and is freely at work. The Baptist community was also registered in Baku, Ganja and Sumgayit and is operating in these citiesâ€.

The department chief said the religious communities could operate only in the territory where they were registered. â€œJehovahâ€™s Witnesses included the point in its regulations that the area of their activity is Baku. If the community is acting outside Baku, it canâ€™t be considered as a violation of law?â€

Ismayilov said so far no member of the illegal religious community was arrested. Regarding Zaur Balayev and Hamid Shabanov arrested at one time, Ismayilov said their arrest was not related with their belonging to the Baptist community. â€œZaur Balayev built a temple under the name of shop. The courts passed decision to remove this temple, but he rejected the court decision. He was arrested for his resistance to the relevant officials, who intended to execute the court decision. Hamid Sahabanov was arrested for illegal storage of arms in his houseâ€.

The department chief added that members of the Jehovahâ€™s Witnesses, who refuse to take arms in hand because of their religious faith, are also not arrested. â€œThere is no person arrested in Azerbaijan for refusal to serve in army because of his religious faith. 37 members of Jehovahâ€™s Witnesses were arrested in Armenia because they refused to join the army. It is very important that so far international organizations didnâ€™t make statement about religious intolerance in Azerbaijan.

The newspapers are frequently reporting about the confiscation or banning of religious literatures brought to the country. Who is banning the illegal religious literature and what they are based on?

Most part of the banned religious literature in Azerbaijan is the books popularizing vahhabism. There are such points in the Mohammad ibn Abdul Vahhabâ€™s and other authorsâ€™ books like â€œWho is not thinking like you, he is your enemy. Invite him to your path, if doesnâ€™t accept, kill him!â€ Those books prohibit the belief to the sacred places.

The State Committee for Work with Religious Associations established special examination group to identify the harmful religious literature. The group told APA it uses several criterions to identify the harmful literature. Mostly the books instigating relations between the confessions, popularizing discrimination and radicalism, popularizing the ideas of supreme religion carriers, are banned. More than 1500 religious literature were examined by the group last year. 59 of them were banned in Azerbaijan. For the first time APA presents the names of several of those books.

1. â€œVerdict for leaving Namazâ€ â€“ Al Albani
2. â€œBelated confessionsâ€ â€“ Mohammad ibn Abdul Aziz al-Musnad
3. â€œHarams the people donâ€™t attach importance and avoiding themâ€ â€“ Mohammad Saleh al-Munaccid
4. â€œWho is Muslim?â€ â€“ Zihaddin al-Qudsi
5. â€œAchieve your desireâ€ â€“ Shahid Abdullah Azam
6. â€œResults of first Jewish seditionâ€ â€“ Zahiraddin al Madani
7. â€œWhat Allah demands us?â€ - (Christianity)
8. â€œWhat is the meaning of life?â€ â€“ (Christianity)
9. â€œWhat is the holy book teaching?â€ â€“ (Christianity)