Shia groups and Iranian religious influence in Azerbaijan: the impact of trans-boundary religious ties on national religious policy

Jödicke, Ansgar

doi:10.1080/15387216.2017.1413579

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Various Iranian charitable and cultural organizations were operating (Constantin-Bercean 2017, 141) in Azerbaijan. Iran was supporting the renovation of Shīʿa mosques (Jödicke 2017). However, according to the Azerbaijani authorities, Iran backed the "Islamic Party of Azerbaijan'', protests and clashes over the school hijab ban (in the period of 2010-2013), and other unrests, particularly in Nardaran (Bashirov 2020).…”

Section: Shīʿa Islam As An Opposition Ideology: the Role Of Iranmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tougher measures were taken to counter external religious influences, especially Iranian ones (Valiyev 2017, 86-87). The religious component remains one of the most sensitive issues in current Azerbaijan-Iran relations (Jödicke 2017). Azerbaijan's political and cultural orientation towards Turkey, the popularity of Turkish culture in Azerbaijan, and wariness and distrust of Iran led to strong opposition to the political and conservative approaches of Shīʿa Islam, which led to the parallel recognition and expansion of Sunni Islam in its Turkish interpretation in Azerbaijan (Pashayan and Navasardyan (b) 2021, 131).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Socio-Political Perception Of Shīʿa Islam In Azerbaijan: The Influence Of External Factors

Pashayan¹,

Navasardyan²

2022

Contemporary Eurasia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of the article is to reveal the changes in socio-political perception of Shīʿa Islam in Azerbaijan by the ruling secular and religious elites, on the one hand, and some circles of the society, on the other hand, as well as to highlight the impact of external factor on the process. The analysis of state-religious relations, the gradual reinforcing of legal regulation of religious activities, and the role of "official Shīʿa Islam" in the state-building process are the objectives of the article. The article argues that the political elite of Azerbaijan, with the support of the religious establishment, institutionally employed the notion of "secularized Shīʿa Islam" as a part of the official interpretation of "Azerbaijani Islam" in shaping national identity, presenting "official Islam" as a key component of the history and culture of the state. The government’s autocratic efforts in preventing foreign religious, particularly Iranian influence are intended to preserve Alievs' authoritarian regime. However, the government failed to completely eradicate the religious and political influence of Iran in Azerbaijan. The state's efforts to institutionalize "Azerbaijani Islam" or "traditional Islam" and neutralize Iranian religious influence remain one of the most painful issues of the authoritarian Azerbaijani regime. There are many circles in Azerbaijani society that adhere to the underground interpretation of Iranian Shiite Islam. Accordingly, there are different approaches to Shīʿa Islam that are incompatible with each other. A special contribution of the article is conceptualizing the state’s antagonistic approach towards Shīʿa religious and civil activism in the country in the most compelling way.

show abstract

Section: Shīʿa Islam As An Opposition Ideology: the Role Of Iranmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-Political Perception Of Shīʿa Islam In Azerbaijan: The Influence Of External Factors

Pashayan¹,

Navasardyan²

2022

Contemporary Eurasia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This trend has been visible in post-Soviet Azerbaijan since the mid-1990s. When a religious community was suspected of political ambitions, they were labelled 'oppositional' and dealt with accordingly (Bedford 2009;Jödicke 2017). Much in the same way, non-traditional movements have been portrayed as an 'existential threat to national security and the national identity of Azerbaijan' and include all 'unwelcome Islamic communities, groups and organisations' (Bashirov 2018, p. 2).…”

Section: Traditional Islam From a Post-soviet Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, there has long been suspicion of so-called 'Iran-inspired Shiites' who want to 'turn Azerbaijan into an Islamic state' (Bedford 2009, p. 168). Thus, references to 'Iranian influence' on religion are frequently used in domestic politics to legitimise various actions, although rarely with any concrete examples of how this influence is enforced (Jödicke 2017). The second category includes certain Sunni communities, Salafis in particular, who are regularly depicted negatively in the media by experts, officials and journalists as 'terrorists', 'fundamentalists', 'long-bearded radicals' or simply 'Wahhabis', a common derogatory term in the post-Soviet space (Peyrouse 2007;Dannreuther 2010b;Gasimov 2017).…”

Section: Traditional Islam From a Post-soviet Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Protecting Nation, State and Government: ‘Traditional Islam’ in Azerbaijan

Bedford¹,

Mahmudlu²,

Abilov³

2021

Europe-Asia Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The article contributes to a better understanding of 'Traditional Islam' (TI), a state-led project in Azerbaijan to establish an alternative narrative promoting a specific local understanding of Islam that builds on its non-political, non-sectarian and national features to prevent 'non-traditional' religious variants from gaining popular traction. The phenomenon has not appeared in a vacuum. First, its features and functions stem from Soviet-era anti-religious and nationalities policies. Second, many aspects of TI resemble counter-radicalisation initiatives worldwide. Finally, while introduced as a means of blocking radicalisation in order to protect Azerbaijan's national identity as a secular state, Traditional Islam in fact works to extend state control over the religious domain and thus to prevent the development of any religiously grounded dissent against the authoritarian regime.'IF MY PEOPLE MUST BE MUSLIM, LET THEM BE THIS KIND OF Muslim. If my brother wants to be Muslim, I'd want him to follow Traditional Islam.' 1 This comment was made by Gunduz Ismayilov, a representative of the Azerbaijani State Committee for Work with Religious Associations (Dini Qurumlarla İş Üzrə Dövlət Komitəsi-SCWRA), the lead institution behind an ambitious state project to counteract the spread of 'foreign' Islam among the citizens of Azerbaijan through the development and promotion of a national religious creed and practice-Traditional Islam (Ənənəvi İslam-TI). Most citizens of post-Soviet Azerbaijan identify as Muslim. What this quote underscores it that, for religious and secular elites, Islam is perceived as a key part of the national ideology and is seen as integral to the new Azerbaijani identity (Mahmudlu 2017). The state is strictly secular; the fear of radicalisation as a result of foreign religious influences promoting a worldview where Islam plays a more prominent, and ultimately political, role has been an important factor in domestic policy since the beginning of the 2000s. How this threat has been used by the ruling elite to legitimise strengthened control over religious

show abstract

“…The other two articles focus on transboundary perspectives, speaking to debates in transnational and border studies, albeit in a variety of forms. Both Jödicke (2017) and Smolnik, Weiss, and Zabanova (2017) direct their attention to how transboundary flows, especially those of ideas, transcend borders. Outlining transboundary Shia influence from Iran in Azerbaijan, Jödicke tackles how transnational religious activity affects religious politics and religious actors on a domestic scale.…”

Section: Toward Greater Emphasis On Re/configurations Of Political Spmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transboundary processes and (re-)configurations of political space in the Caucasus

Smolnik

Weiss

2017

Eurasian Geography and Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Re-visiting the "territorial trap, " the introduction reviews approaches that have substantially addressed Agnew's critique, such as in transnational scholarship, governance research, border studies, and critical study of statehood. With its past and present complexities, the Caucasus provides ample empirical opportunity to study processes of de-and re-territorialization. Yet, beyond state-centrist and classical grand geopolitical frames little attention has been paid to political space in the Caucasus. The introduction provides a literature review on prevalent approaches to political space in the Caucasus on space-, power-, and process-sensitive empirical research and suggests new research avenues. The article places the contributions to this special issue within theoretical context and assesses their contributions to the debate on political space in the Caucasus.

show abstract

Shia groups and Iranian religious influence in Azerbaijan: the impact of trans-boundary religious ties on national religious policy

Cited by 9 publications

References 20 publications

Socio-Political Perception Of Shīʿa Islam In Azerbaijan: The Influence Of External Factors

Socio-Political Perception Of Shīʿa Islam In Azerbaijan: The Influence Of External Factors

Protecting Nation, State and Government: ‘Traditional Islam’ in Azerbaijan

Transboundary processes and (re-)configurations of political space in the Caucasus

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About