Radical Islamism in Azerbaijan

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It has been suggested that this article be merged into Islam in Azerbaijan. (Discuss) Proposed since May 2009.

Radical Islamism in Azerbaijan is the rise of religious extremism across the country as a result of continued problems such as corruption, poverty, and semi-authoritarian government rule, combined with disillusionment with the West and support of religious sects from different countries.

Background

Main article: Islam in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is a secular country. According to Svante Cornell, "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." A 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.

According to the U.S.-based CountryReports.org,

Approximately 94 percent of the population is Muslim. The rest of the population adheres to other faiths or consists of nonbelievers. Among the Muslim majority, religious observance is relatively low and Muslim identity tends to be based more on culture and ethnicity rather than religion. The Muslim population is approximately 70 percent Shi'a and 30 percent Sunni; differences traditionally have not been defined sharply.

According to the U.S.-based CountryReports.org,

Approximately 94 percent of the population is Muslim. The rest of the population adheres to other faiths or consists of nonbelievers. Among the Muslim majority, religious observance is relatively low and Muslim identity tends to be based more on culture and ethnicity rather than religion. The Muslim population is approximately 70 percent Shi'a and 30 percent Sunni; differences traditionally have not been defined sharply.

According to a recent article :

When one talks about Azerbaijan with a Westerner, the latter will almost always say that he knows that Azerbaijanis are Muslim. A slightly more informed Westerner may be concerned about extremism here. The reality is the opposite; most Azerbaijanis consider themselves to be Muslim by culture and tradition, but their views are not orthodox much less extreme.

Meanwhile, the International Crisis Group has determined, in the executive summary of the findings from its special report on religion in Azerbaijan, that:

Azerbaijan is a secular state with an overwhelmingly moderate (predominantly Shiite) Muslim population. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union and independence in 1991, independent Sunni and Shiite groups have emerged which refuse the spiritual authority of the official clergy. Some are political, but very few, if any, appear intent on employing violence to overthrow the state.

Current situation

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. He writes, that the Government policies toward Islam in general and Islamic radicalism in particular have been inadequate.

Islamic activism, and radicalism, has geographic variations: while Shias are strong in the South of Azerbaijan, the Sunni radicalism is growing in the North, and the capital is experiencing growth in both Shi’a and Sunni radicalism. The Islamic Groups and Forces in Azerbaijan include the Abu Bakr Mosque community, The Juma Mosque Community, the Islamic Party of Azerbaijan and Jeyshullah.

Wahhabists

Today Wahhabi congregation, particularly the radical part of Salafists, are considered one of the dangerous radical Islamic groups in Azerbaijan. Before the November 6, 2005 elections Rafik Aliyev, chairman of the Azerbaijani government's Committee for Work with Religious Formations, warned that the increased activity of "Wahhabis," poses a threat to political stability in Azerbaijan. In October, 2007 the Azerbaijani government reported it thwarted a Wahhabi radical Islamic group’s plot to conduct a “large-scale, horrifying terror attack” against US and British diplomatic missions and government buildings. According to the Azerbaijani National Security Ministry, one suspect was killed and several others were detained in a weekend sweep in village outside the capital. The State Department closed US embassy in Baku for a period, as well as the UK embassy in Azerbaijan also suspended services due to "local security concerns".

The Islamic group included an army lieutenant who stole 20 hand grenades, a machine gun, assault rifles and other military ammunition from his army unit for the planned attack.

According to Imam Ilgar Ibrahimoglu "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 because of the lack of democracy, frequent human rights violations, and the authorities' repression of less radical but unregistered religious communities. Sheikh ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade also was quoted as openly branding the congregation of the Abu-Bakr mosque as "Wahhabis" and as implicitly criticizing the Azerbaijani authorities for failing to crack down on them.

An Attack on Abu Bakr Mosque of Baku took place on August 17, 2008 when a man or men threw a grenade through a window of the Abu Bakr (Abu-Bekir) mosque, used both by Sunni and Wahhabi Muslims, during the evening prayer. Three people were killed and 13 injured. During the investigation, 26 persons were accused of Article 214 (terrorism), 279 (creation of a armed formations or groups, which are not provided by the legislation) and others of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan Republic, and one person, the leader of “Forest brothers” radical group, was killed during a special operation.

Al-Qaeda

In 1998 after the attacks on the U.S. embassies in Dar-es-Salaam and Nairobi, as as result of the fax that was sent from Baku, the level of activity of Al-Qaeda in the country was discovered.. Following to this members of the Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya close to Al-Qaeda movement were arrested in Azerbaijan and extradicated to Cairo. An Al-Qaeda operative, Abu Atiya, was arrested in Baku and turned over to the CIA. The arrests came after security forces engaged in a search for more than a month, that finally led them to a safe house in Sumgayit, where the militants were arrested.

Amiraslan Iskenderov, the head of a Salafist gang in Azerbaijan, received special training at al-Qaeda-connected training camps of Afghanistan and was taught how to make and use bombs and organize mass killings of people in public places, and was also assigned to recruit young girls with extremist religious views to become suicide bombers in Azerbaijan. Iskenderov’s group prepared a statement on behalf of al-Qaeda in the Caucasus, threatening the Azerbaijani government with bombings in Baku. Currently Iskanderov and his group are prisoned.

According to U.S. Department of State report on terrorism in Azerbaijan, "in April 2006, in a trial involving a group called al-Qaida Caucasus (separate from a group of the same name sentenced in 2005), 16 group members were sentenced to terms of up to life in prison. The group was convicted of the illegal purchase and bearing of firearms and for the July 2005 assassination of an officer of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs. The group consisted of citizens of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia and Yemen."

Jeyshullah

The Jeyshullah (soldiers of Allah) group was an extremist Salafi group, mainly active in Azerbaijan in the late 1990s, and reportedly responsible for several murders and attacks against the Hare Krishna temple and the Baku office of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. It is also thought to have planned to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan but was pre-empted by Azerbaijani law enforcement officials. Jeyshullah was founded by Mubariz Aliyev, a renegade Internal Affairs Ministry officer, with the aim to spread Salafism in Azerbaijan by "getting rid of those who stood in their way, seizing of power in the country by force and creating an Islamic state". It also called on Azerbaijanis to fight foreign religious missionaries and non-Islamic religious groups and received special military and ideological training in Chechnya. Jeyshullah's leaders were alleged of terrorism and prisoned in 2000, Mubariz Aliev was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Tovba

Tovba (Repentance) Radical Islamic organization, that supported the usage of Arabic script in prevail of Latin in Azerbaijan in early-1990's, was expanded from Azerbaijan to Central Asia and founded its power structures in Ferghana Valley in 1991. According to Stephen Roth Institute, Tovba, as well as Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islamiyya were among the organizations in Azerbaijan and in Central Asia that "reflect the anti Israel and anti Jewish attitudes of the parent organizations in the Middle East, which finance the dissemination of their propaganda."

Nur sect

Influence of Turkey in shaping Islam in post-Soviet Azerbaijan was due to a combination of popular Islam and Turkic nationalism promoted by the Turkish extremist religious sect, Nur (Light).