View source for Islam in Azerbaijan

{{Short description|none}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Islam in Europe by country}}
{{Islam by country}}
{{Azerbaijanis}}
{{bar box
|title=Islam in Azerbaijan
|titlebox=#ddd
|left1=Islam
|right1=Percent
|float=right
|bars=
}}
[[File:Juma(shah-abbas)mosque XVII.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The [[Juma Mosque of Ganja (Shah Abbas)|Shah Abbas]] [[Mosque]] in [[Ganja, Azerbaijan]]]]

[[File:Bibi Heybat Mosque Baku 1.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Bibi-Heybat Mosque]] in [[Baku]], Azerbaijan]]
[[Islam]] is the majority religion in [[Azerbaijan]], but the country is considered to be the most [[secular]] in the [[Muslim world]].<ref>{{cite news|title= Islam and Secularism: the Azerbaijani experience and its reflection in France |publisher= PR Web|url= http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/6/prweb10839650.htm|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150214125246/http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/6/prweb10839650.htm|url-status= dead|archive-date= February 14, 2015|access-date=2013-08-16}}</ref> Various reports have estimated 97.3% (CIA, 2020)<ref name=CIAFB>{{cite web|access-date=2023-07-09|title=Middle East :: Azerbaijan — The World Factbook|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/azerbaijan/#people-and-society|website=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]}}</ref> or 99.2% (Pew Research Center, 2006)<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-08-09|title=Interactive Data Table: World Muslim Population by Country|url=https://www.pewforum.org/2009/10/07/mapping-the-global-muslim-population23/|date=7 October 2009|website=[[Pew Research Center]]}}</ref> of the population identifying as Muslim; with the majority being adherents of the [[Shia|Shia branch]] (55-65%), while a significant minority (35-50%) are [[Sunni Islam|Sunnis]].<ref>
Sources:

* {{Cite book |last=Ismayilov |first=Murad |title=The Dialectics of Post-Soviet Modernity and the Changing Contours of Islamic Discourse in Azerbaijan |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2018 |isbn=9781498568364 |location=London SE11 4AB |pages=2 |chapter=1: Hybrid Intentionality and Exogenus Sources of Elite's Manifold Attitudes to Islam in Azerbaijan |quote=the country's population historically divided between the Shia (currently some 50-65 percent of the population) and the Sunni (about 35-50 percent).}}
* {{Cite web |date=2 June 2022 |title=2021 Report on International Religious Freedom: Azerbaijan |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/azerbaijan/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220604000708/https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/azerbaijan/ |archive-date=4 June 2022 |website=U.S Department of State |quote=According to 2011 SCWRA data (the most recent available), 96 percent of the population is Muslim, of which approximately 65 percent is Shia and 35 percent Sunni.}}
* {{Cite book |last1=S. Nielsem |first1=Jorgen |title=Yearbook of Muslims in Europe: Volume 5 |last2=Balciz Goyushov |first2=Bayram, Altay |publisher=Brill |year=2013 |isbn=978-90-04-25456-5 |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |pages=65 |chapter=Azerbaijan |quote=quote:"While traditionally approximately 65% of local Muslims are considered Shi'i and 35% Sunnis, due to a great success of international Sunni missionary organisations after the collapse of the Soviet Union, currently the estimated number of practicising Sunni and Shi'i Muslims in the big urban areas are almost equal"}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YoIbBQAAQBAJ&dq=Azerbaijan+Sunni+35&pg=PT201 |title=Whitaker's Shorts 2015: International |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2014 |isbn=9781472914842}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mammadli |first=Nijat |date=7 June 2018 |title=Islam and Youth in Azerbaijan |url=https://bakuresearchinstitute.org/en/islam-and-youth-in-azerbaijan/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420120859/https://bakuresearchinstitute.org/en/islam-and-youth-in-azerbaijan/ |archive-date=20 April 2023 |website=Baku Research Institute|quote=quote:"Also, according to rough estimates, Shiites constitute 60-65% of the Muslim population, and Sunnis – 35-40%."}}</ref> Traditionally, the differences between these two branches of Islam have not been sharply defined in Azerbaijan.

Most Shia Muslims in the country follow the [[Ja'fari school]] of Shia Islam, while Sunni Muslims typically adhere to either the [[Hanafi school|Hanafi]] or [[Shafi'i school]].<ref name="mammadli">{{cite web |last1=Mammadli |first1=Nijat |title=Islam and Youth in Azerbaijan |url=https://bakuresearchinstitute.org/en/islam-and-youth-in-azerbaijan/ |website=Baku Research Institute |date=7 June 2018 |access-date=20 April 2023}}</ref> Due to many decades of [[State atheism|Soviet atheist]] policy, religious affiliation in Azerbaijan is often [[Cultural Muslims|nominal]] and Muslim identity tends to be based more on culture and ethnicity than on religion. Shia Islam is prevalent in the western, central, and southern regions of the country. Traditionally, villages around [[Baku]] and the [[Lankaran-Astara Economic Region|Lankaran region]] are considered Shia strongholds. In contrast, Sunni Islam is dominant in the northern regions.<ref name="mammadli" />

==History==
Islam arrived in Azerbaijan with Arabs in the seventh century, gradually supplanting [[Christianity in Azerbaijan|Christianity]] and [[paganism|pagan]] cults.<ref name=":0">{{citation-attribution|1={{Cite book|last=Curtis|first=Glenn E.|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/94045459/|title=Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia : country studies|date=1995|publisher=[[Federal Research Division]]|isbn=0-8444-0848-4|edition=1st|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=106–107|oclc=31709972}}}}</ref>

In the sixteenth century, the first shah of the [[Safavid]] Dynasty, [[Ismail I]] (r. 1501-1524), established Shi'a Islam as the state religion,<ref name=":0" /> although a portion of people remained Sunni. The population of what is nowadays [[Iran]] and what is nowadays Azerbaijan were converted to Shia Islam at the same moment{{Clarify|date=October 2024 |reason="Conversions of entire peoples does not happen instantaneously. Is this supported by the source?"}} in history.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N8IKR0oqdRkC&q=safavid+persia+conversion&pg=PA158|title=The Caspian: politics, energy and security, By Shirin Akiner, pg.158|access-date=17 December 2014|isbn=9780203641675|last1=Akiner|first1=Shirin|date=2004-07-05|publisher=Taylor & Francis }}</ref>{{Page needed|date=October 2024}}

As elsewhere in the Muslim world, the two branches of Islam came into conflict in Azerbaijan.<ref name=":0" /> [[Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam|Enforcement of Shi'a Islam]] as the state religion brought contention between the Safavid rulers and the ruling Sunnis of the neighboring [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref name=":0" />

In the nineteenth century, many Sunni Muslims emigrated from Russian-controlled Azerbaijan because of Russia's series of wars with their coreligionists in the Ottoman Empire.<ref name=":0" /> Thus, by the late nineteenth century, the Shi'a population was in the majority in Russian Azerbaijan.<ref name=":0" /> Antagonism between the Sunnis and the Shi'a diminished in the late nineteenth century as Azerbaijani nationalism began to emphasize a common Turkic heritage and opposition to [[Iran]]ian religious influences.<ref name=":0" />

===Russian Empire and Soviet Union===
{{islam by country}}
In 1806, Azerbaijan became occupied by the [[Russian Empire]] as the latter invaded [[Qajar Iran]] during the [[Russo-Persian War (1804–1813)]]. In the aftermath, [[Qajar dynasty|Iran]] was forced to cede therefore almost all of Azerbaijan according to the [[Treaty of Gulistan]] of 1813 to Russia. However, all this only came to be confirmed in the aftermath of the next and last war between Russia and Iran, the [[Russo-Persian War (1826–1828)]] and the resulting [[Treaty of Turkmenchay]] of 1828. In 1918, Azerbaijan declared independence from Russia and established the [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]] under its leading [[Musavat]] party, but was incorporated into the [[Soviet Union]] in 1920.

Before Soviet power was established, about 2,000 [[mosque]]s were active in Azerbaijan.<ref name=":0" /> Most mosques were closed in the 1930s, then some were allowed to reopen during [[World War II]].<ref name=":0" /> The Soviet rule promoted an Azerbaijani national consciousness as a substitute for identification with the world Islamic community and Iran.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bournoutian|first1=George A.|authorlink=George Bournoutian|title=The 1820 Russian Survey of the Khanate of Shirvan: A Primary Source on the Demography and Economy of an Iranian Province prior to its Annexation by Russia|date=2016|publisher=Gibb Memorial Trust|page=ix|quote=In 1922 Soviet officials and local intellectuals, living in the newly-created republic of Soviet Azerbaijan, in order to reduce the influence of Islam and Iran, as well as to instill a much-needed national identity, introduced a Latin alphabet, similar to the new Latin alphabet created in Turkey for much the same reasons. |isbn=978-1909724808}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bournoutian |first1=George |author1-link=George Bournoutian |title=Armenia and Imperial Decline: The Yerevan Province, 1900-1914 |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |pages=xiii-xiv|quote=In 1922, the Soviets, in order to reduce the influence of Islam and Iran as well as to instill a much-needed national identity, replaced the Arabo-Persian script used by the Muslims in the South Caucasus with a Latin alphabet (slightly modified in 1933), similar to the new Latin alphabet created in Turkey for much the same reason.}}</ref>

During World War II, Soviet authorities established the [[Muslim Spiritual Board of Transcaucasia]] in Baku as the governing body of Islam in the [[Caucasus]], in effect reviving the nineteenth-century [[tsarist]] [[Muslim Ecclesiastical Board]].<ref name=":0" /> During the tenures of [[Leonid Brezhnev]] and [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], [[Moscow]] encouraged Muslim religious leaders in Azerbaijan to visit and host foreign Muslim leaders, with the goal of advertising the freedom of religion and superior living conditions reportedly enjoyed by Muslims under Soviet communism.<ref name=":0" />

During the [[Azerbaijani SSR]], there were 17 mosques functioning in the country.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}} In the 1980s only two large and five smaller mosques held services in Baku, and only eleven others were operating in the rest of the country.<ref name=":0" /> Supplementing the officially sanctioned mosques were thousands of private houses of prayer and many secret Islamic sects.<ref name=":0" />

The lone center of conservative Shia Islam, was the town of [[Nardaran]], 25 kilometers northeast of central Baku, and was renowned for its thirteenth-century Shia shrine. Unlike the rest of the country which was staunchly secular and which can be considered religiously progressive, Nardaran was the only place in the whole of Azerbaijan where its inhabitants are devoutly religious and [[fundamentalist]], where its streets display religious banners and where most women wear [[chador]]s in public. The now banned [[Islamic Party of Azerbaijan]] was founded in this town and its base was centered there.

There is some evidence of Sufism in Azerbaijan.<ref name=aleskerova>{{cite web|last1=ALESKEROVA|first1=Nesrin|title=SUFISM IN AZERBAIJAN|url=http://www.ca-c.org/c-g/2007/journal_eng/c-g-4/11.shtml|publisher=CA & CC Press|access-date=24 May 2015|date=2007}}</ref>

===After the Soviet Union===
[[Image:Mosque in Baku.jpg|upright|thumb|left|A Mosque in [[Baku]]]]
[[File:GOBUSTAN MOSQ.jpg|thumb|A stone-age cave converted into a Mosque in [[Qobustan, Baku|Gobustan]], [[Azerbaijan]]]]

Beginning in the late Gorbachev period, and especially after independence, the number of mosques rose dramatically.<ref name=":0" /> Many were built with the support of other Islamic countries, such as [[Iran]], [[Oman]], and [[Saudi Arabia]], which also contributed [[Qur'an]]s and religious instructors to the new Muslim states.<ref name=":0" /> A Muslim seminary has also been established since 1991.<ref name=":0" /> The growing number of religious Muslims resulted in the establishment of more than 2,000 mosques by 2014.

After independence, the laws regarding religion are quite clear. In Article 7 of the constitution, Azerbaijan is declared a secular state. This point is driven home in Article 19 with the statement of the separation of religion and state and the equality of all religions before the law as well as the secular character of the state educational system.

Immediately after the independence of Azerbaijan in 1991, Sunni missionaries flocked to the country. The Sunni missionaries were divided among two movements, the Sufis, mostly from Turkey, and the Salafis, mostly from Saudi Arabia or Chechnya. Preachers in Azerbaijan were mostly charismatic locals who studied in Saudi Arabia and received funding from Saudi and other Gulf businessmen. Salafi preachers often used Anti-Iranian sentiment to attract converts.<ref>Souleimanov, Rise of Militant Salafism in Azerbaijan, p. 10</ref> Furthermore, the presence of Chechen Salafi militants also contributed to the rise of Salafism among many Azerbaijani youth in border and urban areas.<ref>Altstadt, The Azerbaijani Turks, Hoover Institution Press, 1992, p. 219.</ref> In addition to the Salafis, Turkish Sufi missionaries from various tarikats also flocked to Azerbaijan, promoting a Turkified version of Islam more compatible with nationalism.<ref>Jamestown, “Secular Nationalism vs Political Islam in Azerbaijan”, p. 9</ref> After independence, Azerbaijan maintained a strict secular policy. However, Sunni missionaries continued to be active in the country, with the rivalry between the Turkish Sufis and Arab Salafis intensifying gradually.<ref>Swietochowski, Hidden Faces of Islam, p. 70</ref>

Although Shia Islam historically dominated Azerbaijan, as most Azerbaijani Turks adhered to Shia Islam, there were some Sunni pockets in Azerbaijan, especially in the northern and western regions, generally associated with ethnic minorities like Lezgins or Avars. The Soviet era eroded both Sunni and Shia religious institutions, but after independence, Sunni institutions were among the first to benefit from foreign support. Sunni Islam, particularly Salafism, grew in certain Azerbaijani urban and peripheral communities which had been traditionally secular before.<ref>Thibault, Transforming Tajikistan: State-building and Islam in Post-Soviet Central Asia, Cambridge University Press, 2018, p. 168.</ref> Similarly, the Turkish Sufis, especially the Gulenists, were able to cultivate a following through educational and charitable networks.<ref>Fabbe, Disciples of the State? Religion and State-building in the Former Ottoman World, Cambridge University Press, 2019, p. 201.</ref> Many Azerbaijanis who converted to Sunni Islam did so for a sense of community rather than spiritual belief.<ref>Altstadt, The Azerbaijani Turks: Power and Identity under Russian Rule, Hoover Institution Press, 1992, p. 214.</ref> Among some Pan-Turkists in Azerbaijan, conversion to Sunni Islam was a way to align with Turkey. It was not only a personal faith decision but also a political assertion, emphasizing closeness to Turkey and distinction from Iran.<ref>Shaffer, Borders and Brethren: Iran and the Challenge of Azerbaijani Identity, MIT Press, 2002, p. 142-146.</ref> 

The secular government of Azerbaijan officially promoted Turkish-influenced Sufism over both Iranian-influenced Shia Islam and Arab-influenced Salafism, but maintained vigilance over religious activities of any sect.<ref>Ahmed, Islamic Reform in the Caucasus, Routledge, 2014, p. 87.</ref> Many Turkish missionaries in Azerbaijan directly worked for the Turkish government religious institutions.<ref>Shaffer, Borders and Brethren, MIT Press, 2018 (updated edition), p. 152.</ref>

By the early 2020s, the Arab-influenced Salafi movement had declined, and the Turkish-influenced Sufi movement further deepened its activities in Azerbaijan and usage of Pan-Turkism.<ref>Balci, Islam in Central Asia and the Caucasus, Hurst, 2023, p. 174.</ref> The Salafi movement had declined and was under extreme government repression, especially after terror attacks in the 2000s by Chechen militants in Azerbaijan. Salafi activity persisted underground but with diminished capacity. The religious conflict became largely between Turkish-influenced Sufis and Iranian-influenced Shias.<ref>Fabbe, Disciples of the State? Religion and State-building in the Former Ottoman World, Cambridge University Press, 2022, p. 215.</ref> There was another rise in conversions to Sunni Islam after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, which was seen as a symbol of growing closeness with Turkey.<ref>Balci, Islam in Central Asia and the Caucasus, Hurst, 2023, p. 176.</ref>

While Sunnis in Azerbaijan became a more noticeable minority, many traditional Shia clerics accused Azerbaijani Sunnis of having shamelessly sold their ancestral religion merely for Turkish approval and only symbolically converting without actually believing in it.<ref>Balci, Islam in Central Asia and the Caucasus, Hurst, 2023, p. 178.</ref> Many Azerbaijani Shia clerics were pressured into political quietism or pragmatic collaboration with pro-state religious institutions.<ref>Shaffer, Borders and Brethren, MIT Press, 2018, p. 153.</ref> Many religious Shia Azerbaijanis criticized the rise of Sunni Islam as a betrayal of the historically Shia identity of Azerbaijan and as a means of submission to Turkey after the Ottoman-Safavid conflict which lasted centuries. In 2018, an Azerbaijani Shia cleric stated that they were "trading Karbala for Ankara".<ref>Altstadt, The Azerbaijani Turks, Hoover Institution Press, 2018, p. 224-226.</ref>

Many secular Azerbaijanis also criticized the Sunni movement, claiming that it would not only increasing religiosity but also create an additional source of division for Azerbaijanis, as most Azerbaijanis were secular with a common Shia background.<ref>Balci, Islam in Central Asia and the Caucasus, Hurst, 2023, p. 175.</ref><ref>Altstadt, The Azerbaijani Turks, Hoover Institution Press, 2018, pp. 222–223.</ref> There was a proverb among secular Azerbaijani nationalists which stated "They pray like Turks to get a job in Istanbul", aimed at being a sarcastic reference towards Azerbaijani Sunnis.<ref>Shaffer, Borders and Brethren: Iran and the Challenge of Azerbaijani Identity, MIT Press, 2018, p. 157.</ref>

== Religiosity levels ==
Azerbaijan has been a [[secular]] country and is often considered the most secularized Muslim-majority nation.<ref name="silkroadstudies.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/docs/Silkroadpapers/0610Azer.pdf |title=Svante E. Cornell. The Politicization of Islam in Azerbaijan. |access-date=2009-05-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130418104957/http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/docs/Silkroadpapers/0610Azer.pdf |archive-date=2013-04-18 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A 1998 survey estimated the proportion of ardent believers in Azerbaijan at close to 7 percent, slightly more than the number of declared atheists — almost 4 percent — with the largest numbers falling into the category of those who consider Islam above all as a way of life, without strict observance of prohibitions and requirements, or as a fundamental part of national identity.<ref name="worldpolicy.org">[[Tadeusz Swietochowski]] [http://www.islamawareness.net/Asia/Azerbaijan/aj_article002.html Azerbaijan: The Hidden Faces of Islam. ''World Policy Journal'', Volume XIX, No 3, Fall 2002]</ref> Another 1998 poll estimated the proportion of ardent believers in Azerbaijan at only 20 percent.<ref>Fereydoun Safizadeh, "On Dilemmas of Identity in the Post-Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan," ''Caucasian Regional Studies'', vol.3, no.1 (1998).</ref>

In a 2010 survey only half of Azerbaijanis answering yes to the question, "Is religion an important part of your daily life?".<ref name="gallup">[http://www.gallup.com/poll/142727/religiosity-highest-world-poorest-nations.aspx Religiosity Highest in World's Poorest Nations]  August 31, 2010 - data accessed on 22 May 2015</ref>

Yet in 2017 Dobroslawa Wiktor-Mach noted an [[Islamic revival]] in the country: In 2010, the ''Caucasus Research Resource Center'' (CRRC)'s "Caucasus Barometer" found out that for around 25% of the citizens religion was "very important" and for 43% "rather important" but just two years later, in 2012, as per the same organization those who considered it "very important" rose to 33% while those who chose "rather important" rose to 47% (16% selecting "less important", 2% not important and 1% not knowing).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wiktor-Mach |first=Dobroslawa |title=Religious Revival and Secularism in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |year=2017 |pages=92–93}}</ref>

==Radical Islam==
{{Update section|date=July 2021}}
{{Main|Terrorism in Azerbaijan}}
There is a certain rise of [[religious extremism]] across Azerbaijan as a result of continued problems such as corruption, poverty, and government rule, combined with disillusionment with the [[West]] and support of [[religious sect]]s from different countries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ncsj.org/AuxPages/021306Azerbaijan.shtml |title=Azerbaijani Jews worried over increasing radical Islamists, By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz - 02.15.2006 |access-date=2009-10-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225050901/http://www.ncsj.org/AuxPages/021306Azerbaijan.shtml |archive-date=2012-02-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4411524.stm|title=BBC NEWS - Europe - Azeri poverty fuels rise of Islam|access-date=22 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L08191665.htm | title=Home }}</ref><ref name="rferl.org">{{cite news|url=http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1060479.html|title=Azerbaijan: Does Wahhabism Pose A Threat?|work=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty|date=8 April 2008 |access-date=22 March 2015|last1=Fuller |first1=Liz }}</ref> However it works against a headwind of traditional secularism. According to [[Svante Cornell]]:

<blockquote>Azerbaijan can rightly claim to be among the most progressive and secular Islamic societies. Aside from having been the first Muslim country to have operas, theater plays, and a democratic republic, Azerbaijan today is among the Muslim countries where support for secularism is the highest, and where radical ideologies have met only very limited interest.<ref name="silkroadstudies.org"/></blockquote>

Svante Cornell believes that the radical groups remain weak, but have a potential to grow under the current domestic and international circumstances. To confront this, the Azerbaijani state needs to address the diarchy in terms of supervision of religious structures.<ref name="silkroadstudies.org"/> He writes, that the Government policies toward Islam in general and Islamic radicalism in particular have been inadequate.<ref name="silkroadstudies.org"/>

According to researchers [[Emil Aslan|Emil Souleimanov]] and Maya Ehrmann, there is "a trend among [[Ethnic groups in Dagestan|Dagestani]] minorities in the north of Azerbaijan to engage in insurgent activities".  The Salafi movement has been "spurred by missionary activities using external funds and the establishment of mosques", and found support from those who the desire a return to more traditionalist values. As authorities have  repressed Salafis in the north they have become more radical.<ref name=RMSAIRI>{{cite journal|last1=Souleimanov|first1=Emil|last2=Ehrmann|first2=Maya|title=The Rise of Militant Salafism in Azerbaijan and Its Regional Implications|journal=Middle East Policy Council|date=Fall 2013|volume=XX|issue=3|url=http://www.mepc.org/journal/middle-east-policy-archives/rise-militant-salafism-azerbaijan-and-its-regional-implications?print|access-date=24 May 2015}}</ref>

Citizens of Azerbaijan have joined terrorist organizations in Syria.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jihadology.net/2015/02/02/the-clear-banner-azerbaijani-foreign-fighters-in-2014/|title=The Clear Banner: The Forgotten Fighters: Azerbaijani Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq|work=JIHADOLOGY|access-date=25 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://jihadology.net/2014/01/28/guest-post-azerbaijani-foreign-fighters-in-syria/|title=GUEST POST: Azerbaijani Foreign Fighters in Syria|work=JIHADOLOGY|access-date=25 October 2015}}</ref>

In [[Nardaran]], a deadly incident broke out between Azerbaijan security forces and religious Shia residents in which two policemen and four suspected Shia Muslim militants were killed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ru.oxu.az/society/105085|title = Рамиль Усубов: В связи с событиями в Нардаране арестованы 32 человека – ВИДЕО|date = 2 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.radioazadlyg.org/content/article/27404537.html |title=Дороги в Нардаран перекрыты бетонными плитами - &#91;ВИДЕО&#93; |access-date=2015-12-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151227125819/http://www.radioazadlyg.org/content/article/27404537.html |archive-date=2015-12-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.contact.az/docs/2015/Social/120300138697ru.htm |title=Ситуация в Нардаране остается напряженной |access-date=2015-12-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151227065408/http://www.contact.az/docs/2015/Social/120300138697ru.htm |archive-date=2015-12-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.radioazadlyg.org/content/article/27406664.html |title=МВД сообщает, что в доме Э.Гасымова обнаружено оружие |access-date=2015-12-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304120919/http://www.radioazadlyg.org/content/article/27406664.html |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/273728/ |title=Тела убитых в Нардаране выданы родным |language=ru |trans-title=The bodies of those killed in Nardaran were handed over to their relatives |work=Кавказский узел [Caucasian Knot] |date=December 5, 2015 |access-date=2022-03-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jamestown.org/programs/edm/single/?tx_ttnews |title=RUSSIA TO REDIRECT MASSIVE OIL VOLUMES FROM DRUZHBA TO BALTIC PIPELINE &#124; the Jamestown Foundation |access-date=2010-04-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213123426/http://www.jamestown.org/programs/edm/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=32762&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=171&no_cache=1 |archive-date=2016-02-13 }}[tt_news]=44846&cHash=c3ba7363d698036659ab0e10c671aeaf</ref>

As a result of this incident, the Azerbaijani parliament passed laws prohibiting people with religious education received abroad to implement Islamic rites and ceremonies in Azerbaijan, as well as to preach in mosques and occupy leading positions in the country; as well as prohibiting the display of religious paraphernalia, flags and slogans, except in places of worship, religious centers and offices.<ref>{{cite news|title=В Азербайджане запретят мулл, обучавшихся за границей (Azerbaijan has banned mullahs studying abroad)|url=http://ru.oxu.az/society/104949|publisher=Oxu.az|date=2 December 2015|language=ru}}</ref> [[Day of Ashura|Ashura]] commemorations in public have also been banned.<ref>{{cite news|title=В Азербайджане запрещают различные представления в дни Ашура (Azerbaijan will forbid various representations in the days of Ashura)|url=http://ru.oxu.az/society/104982|publisher=Oxu.az|date=2 December 2015|language=ru}}</ref> The Azerbaijani government also passed a law to remove the citizenship of Azerbaijani citizens who fight abroad.<ref>{{cite news|title=Террористов будут лишать азербайджанского гражданства (Terrorists will be deprived Azerbaijani citizenship)|url=http://ru.oxu.az/politics/104939|publisher=Oxu.az|date=2 December 2015|language=ru}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Islam|Azerbaijan}}
*[[The State Committee on Religious Associations of the Republic of Azerbaijan]]
*[[2007 Baku terrorist plot]]

==Further reading==
* {{cite thesis | type = Ph.D. | first = Sofie | last = Bedford | title = Islamic activism in Azerbaijan: repression and mobilization in a Post-Soviet context | publisher = [[Stockholm University]] | url = http://su.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:200259 | date = 2009 }} 
* {{Cite journal | last = Collins | first = Kathleen | title = Ideas, networks, and Islamist movements: Evidence from Central Asia and the Caucasus | journal = [[World Politics]] | volume = 60 | issue = 1 | pages = 64–96 | date = October 2007 | jstor = 40060181 | doi = 10.1353/wp.0.0002 | s2cid = 145601429 }} {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20150203093622/http://inspirasi.co/books/1374553171.pdf Pdf.]}}
* {{Cite journal | last = Cornell | first = Svante E. | title = The politicization of Islam in Azerbaijan | journal = Central Asia-Caucasus Institute Silk Road Studies Program | date = October 2006 | url = http://www.silkroadstudies.org/publications/silkroad-papers-and-monographs/item/13096-the-politicization-of-islam-in-azerbaijan.html }} [https://web.archive.org/web/20150203093231/http://mercury.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ISN/30278/ipublicationdocument_singledocument/4da0e807-17f9-4684-83dc-ced67a4506b8/en/17_Politization_Islam_Azerbaijan.pdf Pdf.]
* {{Citation | last = Dragadze | first = Tamara | contribution = Islam in Azerbaijan: The position of women | editor-last1 = Fawzi El-Solh | editor-first1 = Camillia | editor-last2 = Mabro | editor-first2 = Judy | title = Muslim women's choices: Religious belief and social reality | pages = [https://archive.org/details/muslimwomenschoi0000unse/page/152 152–163] | publisher = Berg Distributed in North America by New York University Press | location = Providence, Rhode Island New York | year = 1994 | isbn = 9780854968367 | postscript = . | url = https://archive.org/details/muslimwomenschoi0000unse/page/152 }}
* {{Cite journal | last = Karagiannis | first = Emmanuel | title = Political Islam in the former Soviet Union: Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan compared | journal = Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict, Pathways Toward Terrorism and Genocide | volume = 3 | issue = 1 | pages = 46–61 | doi = 10.1080/17467586.2010.514937 | date = 2010 | s2cid = 143621102 }}
* {{Cite journal | last = Motika | first = Raoul | title = Islam in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan | journal = [[Archives de sciences sociales des religions]] | volume = 46 | issue = 115 | pages = 111–124 | date = July–September 2001 | doi = 10.4000/assr.18423 | jstor = 30127240 | doi-access = free }}
* {{cite book | last = Sattarov | first = Rufat | title = Islam, state, and society in independent Azerbaijan: between historical legacy and post-Soviet reality with special reference to Baku and its environs | publisher = Reichert | location = Wiesbaden | year = 2009 | isbn = 9783895006920 }} [https://web.archive.org/web/20120812204856/http://sattarov.com/44654.html  Online]
* {{Cite journal | last = Tohidi | first = Nayereh | title = Soviet in public, Azeri in private: Gender, Islam, and nationality in Soviet and post-Soviet Azerbaijan | journal = Women's Studies International Forum | volume = 19 | issue = 1–2 | pages = 111–123 | doi = 10.1016/0277-5395(95)00074-7 | date = January–April 1996 | doi-access = free }}

==References==
{{Reflist|33em}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last1=Bashirov |first1=Galib |title=The Politics of the Hijab in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan |journal=Nationalities Papers |date=2020 |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=357–372 |doi=10.1017/nps.2018.81|s2cid=212928375 }}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[http://www.osce.org/documents/ob/2006/08/23087_en.pdf ISLAMIC AND ETHNIC IDENTITIES IN AZERBAIJAN: EMERGING TRENDS AND TENSIONS, A Discussion Paper, by Hema Kotecha, OSCE, 2006] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305180115/http://www.osce.org/documents/ob/2006/08/23087_en.pdf |date=2009-03-05 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110531161229/http://www.caei.com.ar/es/programas/cei/A03.pdf Azerbaijan: Islam in a post-soviet republic. By Anar Valiyev, CAEI]
*[http://www.opendemocracy.net/Russia/article/Azerbaijan-Islamic-threat-to-religious-harmony Azerbaijan: Islamic threat to religious harmony, Open Democracy News] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305010448/http://www.opendemocracy.net/Russia/article/Azerbaijan-Islamic-threat-to-religious-harmony |date=2016-03-05 }}

{{Azerbaijan topics}}
{{Asia topic|Islam in}}
{{Islam in Europe}}
{{Religion in Azerbaijan}}

[[Category:Islam in Azerbaijan| ]]
[[Category:Islam by country|Azerbaijan]]
[[Category:Islam in the Caucasus|Azerbaijan]]