Religious Revival and Secularism in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan
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Finally, the public discourse on religious pluralism has additionally contributed to the rapidly growing interest in religious issues. The constant media coverage of the threat of religious radicalism, that has intensified in the last few years, makes people more aware of the divisions functioning among Muslims. A similar process, but in Italy, has been analysed by Introvigne (2005, p. 2). They have noticed a seemingly surprising fact—the lack of real pluralism on the religious market (“theoretical pluralism”) did not coincide with religious decline. Since 1980s, a growth in religious attendance has been observed, despite the fact that “all religions other than the Roman Catholic Church account for only 1.9 percent of Italian citizens.” The solution to the “Italian puzzle” was a hypothesis that perceived pluralism does have similar effects to empirical one. Changes in the Italian religious field were correlated with a new legislation on religion and a dramatic rise in the number of immigrants, mostly Muslims. Terrorists attacks in 2001 and Oriana Fallaci’s bestsellers popularized a mass feelings of the “Muslim threat.” All these events led to vivid debates on political and cultural aspects of religious diversity and might have had an impact on religious participation.
6.2From Fate to Choice
For pre-modern man, heresy is a possibility—usually a rather remote one; for modern man, heresy typically becomes a necessity (Berger, 1979, p. 28).
Living for most of my life in Catholic Poland, where most people either keep attachment to their parents’ religion or choose not to have any religion at all, I was struck by the extent of “religious mobility” that is clearly apparent in Azerbaijan and elsewhere in post-socialist Central Asia. The word “choice” was one of the most frequent in declarations of being an active Muslims. It refers, in most cases, to choosing one of the Islamic traditions. Abandoning religion occurs in practice very seldom. It stands in a stark contrast to my home country where, over the last years, I have heard more about Polish people converting to Islam than about believers changing an affiliation inside the Christian church. This observation of a variety of responses to religious pluralism has induced me to engage in the study of diversity in contemporary Muslim societies.
Studies of the major religions are conducted at various levels: the global level, the state (or national) level, the community level (e. g., a mahalla, parish or a group concentrated around a pir), or, increasingly, at the level of an individual. All of them are essential to gain more knowledge and understanding of a religious change. The individual level’s analyses are often questioned, mainly in regard to social psychologists’ claims that people do not make decisions solely on a rational basis. But, no matter whether people make their decisions in a rational or non-rational way, an understanding of how they make up their minds can help us discover some mechanisms involved in the process of changes in religion. It is also very interesting to find out what kinds of factors contribute to people’s choices. How do people perceive and judge the religious situation? Are they aware of the possibilities that exist when they make up their minds? How do they value the option they chose and the alternatives? Does religious pluralism undermine the certainty of choice, as some theorists have argued? Last but not least, how does religious diversity, from the perspective of believers, influence the religious landscape? These are some of the questions that will be dealt with in the next sections.
Tradition Taken for Granted
Peter Berger has frequently advocated a view that a situation of pluralism changes the extent of human experience. In Azerbaijan, the recent appearance of options was so sudden that the processes of choosing (including changing) one’s religion or religious tradition are highly recognizable. The emergence of a new religious market and intra-religious competition was, at the same time, unexpected and rapid. Suddenly, Shiite and Sunni traditions which had been taken for granted for generations, ceased to be the only alternatives. Although not much is known about conversions between those two branches in the Soviet era, the secularization of both traditions, alongside an extraordinary for the Muslim world weakening of intra-religious differences, allows us to assume that the competition was not distinguishable. If so, people were not encouraged to change religious affiliation. They did not have incentives nor external impulses to think their traditional rituals over. Even marriages between Sunnis and Shiites did not influence people’s choices to a large degree.
When I asked people about their ways to religion, they usually responded that one of the sources for them was their ancestors’ tradition. One middle-aged man explained: “The basis for us, for our interest in Islam, was the tradition of our fathers and grandfathers that we followed since childhood.” Generally, as I observed, an emphasis on family as a basic channel for transferring values, customs, norms is still very strong. My religious friends and respondents used to underline that their ancestors were either Shia or Sunni, but in the “ethnic sense”: they were Muslims just for the sole reason of being born in such a family. The upbringing and socialization into one of these traditions was thus taken for granted, and not challenged. Certain differences visible in ritual matters did not disturb anyone, despite the fact that both groups often prayed in the same mosques. A girl in the focus group claimed that the Shia-Sunni divisions did not matter in the past: “Azerbaijan is historically a place of mixture of Shiism and Sunnism. There were marriages between both groups, and no problems resulted from it.” Traditional Islam, with its more ritualistic sphere, was transmitted from generation to generation. “Shiites have always lived alongside Sunnis. It was our tradition. At times, one groups dominated, at times the second. During communism there was an atheistic ideology, but people did not completely lose their faith and handed it down to their children,” another man stated in a group discussion. I also discussed the issue of religiously-mixed marriages with an Azeri German teacher. She assured me that in her country people tolerate such relationships, and gave me an example from her own family: a Muslim-Jewish marriage. When I asked her how do they get along with religious differences, she said that they attend a synagogue as well as a mosque. They try to reconcile their beliefs and find a common platform, but at the same time appreciate each other’s religious differences.
In chapter one I discussed historical developments of the Islamic field in the region. I pointed to some periods where discrimination or persecutions forced people to change or hide their religious preferences. It is a baffling issue that most Muslims nowadays are not aware, or do not want to be aware, of these facts, and paint a picture of Azerbaijan as a country where tolerance was always one of its main features. The rhetoric of a glorious and tolerant past is very common. Nevertheless, it may be assumed that one cannot speak of free choice in the Azerbaijani past (as it is the case of most of the world). In Soviet times still most of the people who regarded themselves as Muslims did not question their inherited tradition. Only a few of my respondents gave me examples from their close family circles of changes in one’s religious affiliation, which was usually associated with marriage (e. g., a grandmother was a Sunni, and parents were Shia).
6.3Choosing Religion
With the advent of religious pluralism in Azerbaijan, the act of choice became a necessity. Even staying close to the religion of one’s ancestors became a matter of personal decision. Before a person settles the problem of which trend in religion to follow, he has to deal with a more basic question: Why to follow religion at all? Although so far I have referred to the competition between religious traditions, additionally I have to tackle an equally important issue of competing religious and secular world views.
In the book “A Theory of Religion,” Rodney Stark and William Bainbridge (1996) identify two cultural systems that pose a threat to religion’s infallibility. Politics and science continue to compete with religion by undermining or criticizing its explanations. In a cosmopolitan society a free and intense exchange of opinions, ideas, and explanations have become commonplace. Peter Berger (1967) gives additional examples of powerful competitors that struggle to
distract people from religion. In his view, a religious worldview is being attacked by various secular explanations, some of which are highly organized (e. g., revolutionary ideologies, nationalist movements), some are more institutionally diffused (e. g., a doctrine of individualism or sexual emancipation). Therefore, pluralism, in a wider, non-religious sense, presents people with religion as only one of many, partially alternative, world views. In the Soviet Union one of the most dominant secular proposition was the doctrine of scientific atheism, which directly attacked religious beliefs. For many people it became an attractive alternative. “[T]he doctrine of atheism held a monopoly status within the Soviet religious economy through state repression of its ideological competitors and continued government funding of its promotion” (Froese, 2004, p. 65).
Social research on religiosity in Azerbaijan clearly shows that nowadays the number of self-declared atheists is almost negligible (Wiktor-Mach, 2012). It is however worth noting that even the non-believers identify themselves with the Islamic cultural area. Communist propaganda did not succeed in shaping a nation of homo Sovieticus for whom religion equals ignorance, superstitions and the Dark Ages. Despite the fact that the impact of atheism on beliefs and practices related to religion has been considerable, the doctrine itself is vigorously rejected. As many people underline, atheism does not suit the Azerbaijani culture. There is a positive image of modern Turkey, where, in spite of kemalist ideology, religiosity is much higher than in Azerbaijan. Prosperous Arab countries also add arguments in favour of modernization compatible with Islam. Similarly, political claims are not serious alternatives to religion for at least two reasons. Official separation of religion and state does not prevent the president nor the government from presenting (their model of) Islamic religion in a positive light. Religion in public statements of state officials is not treated as a competitor, but as a constructive force integrating society. People are encouraged to feel pride in their Islamic heritage. Religion is not presented as the opium of the people or a ballast in the country’s modernization efforts. The second reason explaining the reasons why people do not view politics as an alternative to religion is the lack of efficient democracy. There is a general sense of disillusion with politics, enforced by human rights violations and attacks on opposition. In fact, what pious traditions in Azerbaijan propose to people is a decisive break with a political sphere. Morality and self-improvement are in the focus of religious activities.
The ideological secular world views that seem to really matter for Azerbaijanis, at least in Baku, are nationalism and scientific outlook. It is very interesting to observe that religious people do not have problems with integrating both perspectives with religion. Nationalistic sentiments, which increased in the independence era, are not considered as an alternative to religion. For an average Azerbaijani, Islamic religion is an integral part of their national heritage, customs, values, and norms. Some of them even justify their choice of being a religious person by saying that they belong to a Muslim nation. It is also part of the state’s strategy to promote itself as a bridge between the East and the West. State authorities have turned their attention towards Muslim countries. The main strategic partner is Turkey, and the ideology of pan-Turkism has found a fertile ground in the Azerbaijani society. In spite of the fact that these ideas focus on common ethnic similarities of the Turkic nations, they do not exclude religious links. On the contrary, many pro-Turkish Azerbaijanis follow Islam in the interpretation of Turkish imams and scholars. They visit Turkish mosques, go to Turkey for study, work or holiday and socialize with Turkish friends. Turkish Islam is a natural choice for them.
The Miracles of the Koran
Turkish influence also plays a role in managing tensions between religion and science. In Western academic writings, it is usually assumed that there is a basic epistemological conflict between those two spheres. It was, therefore, surprising for me to discover that the discourse on religion in Azerbaijan quite openly stresses the opposite. A lot of people I talked to mentioned an extremely popular idea that the Koran includes all the facts about the world that modern sciences are discovering step by step. This scientific rhetoric has been promoted by the world-famous Turkish thinker Adnan Oktar, known widely as Harun Yahya, whose book “The Miracles of the Koran” is a bestseller in Baku. Yahya is admired for his “scientific” approach and for “proving” how logical and rational the Holy Koran and its vision is. Even people who do not visit Turkish mosques have heard about the content of the book. On his website, Yahya claims that in December 2008, around 3 thousand Azeri students in 24 schools participated in a series of his lectures. His ideological message contained in the illustrated “Atlas of Creation” was promoted at universities and libraries. In Yahya’s view, these events were extremely successful and showed a genuine interest of the Azeri youth in the Koranic science (Azerbaijan Conferences Series).
It became a fashion to spread the incredible stories that were for such a long time hidden in the Koran but now are gradually revealed due to modern scientific discoveries. An engineer from Baku expressed this attitude in the following words:
Science is a great thing. It explains the material world surrounding us, but also brightens the meanings of our Holy Book. In the sacred Koran there is still a lot of things hidden from us, things beyond our grasp, but science will help us solve the mysteries.
Then he argued that Yahya’s discoveries bring an important lesson: education and science are imperatives for Muslims. It is a task of a believer to devote one’s life to study the world and its secrets. In his free time he eagerly reads popular science news and books.
Harun Yahya’s popularity has been a surprise for many observers. He belongs to a new kind of religious entrepreneurs who are successfully making use of the internet and new media as tools of proselytism. His CV suggests that his educational background is not related directly to Islamic theology. In the 1970s Yahya undertook studies in architecture, but later changed to philosophy. His early career was not spectacular. In Istanbul, his sermons did not attract attention. Nevertheless, this experience and readings enabled him to develop his ideas that were focused on four main topics: 1. Creationism, i. e. denying Darwin’s theory of evolution, 2. Eschatology, 3. Conspiracy theories (particularly directed against Jews and “masons”), 4. neo-Ottomanism. His ideas were not original. For instance, the arguments against Darwin’s theory were taken from the Nurcu movement, which joined the efforts of Christian creationists in the West. However, it was Harun Yahya who was successful in spreading this ideology in the Islamic world. In the last decade, after discovering online communication, he set out on a successful project of reaching the audience beyond his homeland. He is the founder of the Science Research Foundation. His websites with his writings are translated into many languages (including Russian, Arabic, as well as English, German and French to target migrant Muslims living in Europe), often with the help of volunteers. He has also a strong interest in Central Asia and Caucasia, but so far it seems that his influence in that region is the strongest in Azerbaijan. The Azeri website with Yahya’s texts, audio recordings and video materials (i. e., documentary films) is one of the richest and most dynamic. It includes numerous materials available to read or download free of charge (Riexinger, 2008).
I once met a young Muslim graduate, who wanted to convince me—an “outsider”—that the Koran is the most perfect of all holy scriptures. The first thing he encouraged me to do was watch a series of DVDs entitled “Scientific Miracles of the Koran” produced on the basis of Oktar’s most famous publication. The movies he gave me presented stories of some selected Koranic secrets revealed in modern times, such as the black holes, the ozone layer, the development of a human foetus, or the formation of the universe. Even the Big Bang Theory is included in the Koran, according to the Turkish writer. When I discussed these movies with my friend, he expressed his view that religion invites people to engage in science, and that particularly Islam calls people to study the world. It is the most
intellectual religious tradition of all. Science cannot exist without religion, since both nature and scientific tools have been given to us by Allah himself. My friend added:
Two types of people should be avoided because they pose the greatest threat to religion. The first type consists of people who don’t know anything about the world and are totally ignorant of science. Such social environment is conducive to fanaticism. The second type encompasses those who devote themselves to science and forget about God. They are able to build atomic bombs and act against God and human beings. Science is extremely important in religion. But it is not and cannot be separated from God.
I entered into a polemic with him, stating the opposite. Religion, I argued, relates to an unknown sphere that cannot be understood rationally. How can we have a full knowledge of God? He is a mystery for people, which our minds cannot grasp. Science is an attempt to understand some aspects of the world and some rules behind it, but scientific thinking is not identical to religious thinking. He answered by pointing again to the Turkish writer: “It is Harun Yahya that made us aware that religion and science constitute a perfect unity.” I have heard such statements many times from people in their twenties, mainly from students. I have heard them from religious and cultural Muslims alike. It was much tougher for me to find Darwin’s supporters in Baku than those who are fascinated by Yahya’s “discoveries.”
Two people independently told me a story of a conversion to Islam, which resulted from a discovery that “religion is science.” They shared with me the same history of a French oceanographer, Jacque Cousteau, who researched into the strait of Gibraltar, where waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea meet. He allegedly discovered a surprising phenomenon, which according to him, had not been explained neither by physics nor chemistry nor any other science. At one place, there are two levels of water that do not mix with each other, as if they were separated by an invisible border, which enables both sides to keep their properties. After the shocking discovery for which he could not have given any rational explanation, the scholar was shown the following ayat from the Koran (The Holy Qurʾan):