IMPACT OF IRAN ON AZERBAIJAN: MEANS OF RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE
IMPACT OF IRAN ON AZERBAIJAN: MEANS OF RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE

Summary/Abstract: Islam in Azerbaijan is a multifaceted phenomenon, which can be understood only in the context of a society in transition. Nowadays Islam plays only a very limited role in the political sphere and only a small part of the population supports the idea of establishing an ‘Islamic order’. This is due to the long tradition of secularism in Azerbaijan and to the fact that the strong nationalistic movement is secular in character and sometimes even fights together with the ruling elite against their rival, political Islam. In many regards, Azerbaijan stands as an original study-case foe an in-depth investigation on interaction between Sunnis and Shiites. The purpose of this research is to present some aspects of Islam – the Shia branch – within the former frontiers of the defunct Soviet Union, assuming that this issue is mainly defined by the borders of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In contrast to the opinion that Islam displays a more or less uniform character in all former Muslim Soviet republics, it is true to say that in these countries Islam was basically shaped by the specific circumstances of each republic, rather than by international Islamic movements and trends.

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