Mammadov: Secularism in Azerbaijan ensures a sincere Islam
Secularism creates the conditions for a sincere Islam, in which every person makes a conscious choice in relations with Allah, Farhad Mammadov said, calling Azerbaijan's secular path a deliberate and strategic choice shaped over centuries.
Mammadov is an expert on international relations and head of the South Caucasus Research Center, and also deputy chairman of the board of the Center of Analysis of International Relations (AIR Center).
He said that after the Prophet and the four righteous caliphs, rulers exploited Islam to expand the borders of their states, subjugate peoples and spread influence, because the interests of the state put religion at their service.
In modern conditions Islam is being exploited for political purposes in the ugliest way, and Azerbaijan is among the countries that come under constant attack in that context, according to him. He said the southern neighbors have worn a hole in their propaganda of a society of well-being while being unable to show an example of it at home, and that a military junta governing in the name of a supreme leader who does not appear in public is not an ideal form of Islamic governance.
The age at which a person makes that choice may be 18, 30, 45 or 60, or may come on the deathbed, Mammadov said. Each person has their own path to Allah and answers before Allah only for themselves, he said.
The relations between a person and Allah set out in Islam fully correspond to secular rules, and Azerbaijan as a secular state defines its own way of life, he said.
Mammadov said the subject of a single school uniform for teachers and pupils is being politicized, although its aim is to standardize the approach to school education and to form a sense of fairness in the younger generation. There is not a hint of restrictions on the daily life of citizens in it, he said.
Playing on religious values is unacceptable, because children cannot and must not become an object of exploitation by external religious influence, he said. That influence exists and is targeted, with hundreds of pages and profiles created on social networks that carry out information injections and subversion against Azerbaijani society, according to him.
"In Azerbaijan, secularism ensures a sincere Islam, not one implanted by semi-educated religious figures," Mammadov said. "Islam in Azerbaijan is the conscious choice of every person."
