AZERBAIJAN/FILE: Hijab ban at schools sparks controversy in Baku

Record ID: 217910

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN/FILE: Hijab ban at schools sparks controversy in Baku
  • Date: 1st March 2011
  • Summary: GIRLS IN HIJAB WALKING DOWN STREET
  • Embargoed: 16th March 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA3463ZANWLL3R8WZBG1YM65LA9
  • Story Text: The Azeri government's recent move to ban wearing the Muslim head-dress or hijab at schools has split Azeri society over the matter.
    Religous groups and many residents criticised officials of the striclty secular regime in the former Soviet repubic for last year introducing a standard school uniform which precludes traditional Islamic dress.
    But the officials say the new school regulations do not contradict Islam.
    "There is no need of any turmoil because of this issue. The Azeri legislation imposes wearing school uniform of a single design. And this regulation should be realised not in context of banning some specific dress or symbols, but only as an introduction of common school uniform. This is a prescription stipulated by the legislation, and it should not be seen as directed against someone's religious views," Azeri parliament deputy speaker Zahid Orudzh said.
    Residents of mainly Shi'ite Azerbaijan were split in opinions about the hijab ban.
    "In my opinion it's not quite correct and loyal [to religion] to ban wearing hijab, because the hijab doesn't affect the persons capacity to work in a office or during lessons at school," said a young woman in a street of Baku, adding that Azerbaijan was a society based on traditional Islamic values which should be respected without exception.
    Like much of the ex-Soviet Union, Azerbaijan has witnessed a limited religious revival since independence in 1991, but most Azeris still take a relaxed approach to their faith and only 10 percent say they pray regularly.
    For another Baku resident, wearing the hijab is more a matter of personal taste than something that should be regulated by law.
    "In regarding to the hijab, I think that we are living in a democratic country and everyone is free to dress as they wish. So I consider hijab to be just a part of one's dress too," he said.
    Some Islamic communities in the country complain of discrimination by a regime analysts say is anxious to stem any challenge from politicised Islam or radicalism as a potential threat to stability in the oil and gas exporter.
    Moslem clerics oppose the government move, saying it wants to re-introduce Soviet-era uniforms to secondary school students and undermine the values of faith.
    "According to our religion, to our faith, to the principles of Islam, this is an order from Allah, the guidance of the Koran, that the girls who have reached a particular age must cover their heads. This is a philosophy of the women's dress in our religion. That is why if we take into account all this, we can come to a conclusion that no compromise is possible on this issue," Muslim religious and human rights activist Ilgar Ibragimoglu said.
    But to many Azeris rooted in secularism, particularly in the booming capital Baku, a strong Islam runs contrary to their vision of a modernising Azerbaijan moving closer to Europe.
    Authorities require religious communities to register with the state, and have closed or demolished several mosques in recent years.
    "For girls in school age wearing hijab is quite normal. But there is no point for a sixteen-year-old girl in sitting in a classroom with a covered head," Azeri Education Minister Misir Mardanov said.
    "Let everybody dress as they wish outside classrooms, but school has its own rules. Everyone should wear a school uniform at school. I don't see anything redundant in it, and it doesn't mean rejection of Islam. We all trust in Allah, and the Koran is for all of us a basic book. We must observe the religious rules. But observing the rules of the secondary school doesn't contradict Islam," the minister added.
    Thousands of Azeris took to the street in October last year to protest the government hijab ban. Around 800-1,000 people took part in the demonstration outside the Ministry of Education, far more than Azerbaijan's opposition has mustered in recent years to demand reform in the tightly-controlled country.
    The Azeri government move also provoked harsh criticism from abroad, with Iranian cleric leaders condemning the move.
    In response, Azerbaijan organized rallies in front of the Iranian embassies in Turkey and a number of European countries, protesting against what they said was the involvement of Iran in Azerbaijan's internal affairs.
    The country of 9 million people is bordered to the West by Turkey, where a secular state must accommodate growing conservative religious influences, to the south by the Islamic Republic of Iran and to the north by Russia's North Caucasus, gripped by an Islamist insurgency against Moscow.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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