Religion

Home page

Religion

One more mosque closed in Azerbaijan - UPDATED

One more mosque closed in Azerbaijan - <font color=red>UPDATED</font>

16 September 2009 11:28 (UTC +04:00)

They said a group of men came to the mosque, sealed the door and did not allow anyone to perform namaz. They advised the residents to appeal to the State Committee for Religious Organizations.

This mosque is known as Alban church in Gandja. Both Sunnites and Shiites perform namaz here. There have reportedly been a lot of Wahhabis in the mosque recently.

The State Committee for Religious Organizations has not commented on the fact yet.

Imam of the closed mosque Ilham Ibrahimov told APA that the doors of the mosque were closed two hours ago. He said head of Gandja department of the State Committee for Religious Organizations Firdovsi Karimov, police officers of Nizami district of Gandja and representatives of Culture and Tourism Ministry sealed the door of the mosque.
â€œThey said the religious community functioning in the mosque must be registered. We have prepared an appeal for registration. Our community is â€œJuma mosque of Gandjaâ€. The mosque is called â€œGandja Shahsevenler Juma mosqueâ€. Mainly Sunnites pray here. We asked them to wait several days till the end of Ramadan, but did not give us time. Now we want to perform namaz in the yard,â€ he said.

Earlier, mosque â€œMahammad Peygemberin mescidiâ€ and the mosque in the â€œOil Rocksâ€ were knocked down. The court passed a decision to knock down Fatimeyi-Zehra mosque in Yeni Guneshli settlement, â€œShehidlerâ€ mosque was closed.