ORIGINALITY IS NO OBSTACLE TO GLOBALIZATION

On 26-27 April, Baku hosted a summit of religious leaders entitled "Globalization, Religion, Traditional Values", which brought together heads and representatives of Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu communities from 32 countries. The very title of the meeting testified to the political orientation of the forum. This is not surprising - religion has played a special role in the development of contemporary geopolitics, as it has throughout world history.

Religious significance

In the run-up to the summit, Patriarch Kirill said, at a meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, that partnership and friendly relations between the peoples of Russia and Azerbaijan are of great importance in maintaining peace in the Caucasus region and throughout the world. The patriarch placed special emphasis on the absence of any religious conflict in Azerbaijan: "Using modern terminology, we would be talking about a high level of tolerance." On behalf of the Orthodox community of Azerbaijan, the patriarch expressed his gratitude to the head of state "for the peaceful spirit that is present in the lives of your people and for good interfaith relations" which play a significant role in domestic life and in building Azerbaijan's relations, not only with its neighbours, but with all countries. During a liturgy at the Cathedral of the Holy Myrrh-bearers in Baku, he also thanked the president "for the kind attitude" of the Azerbaijani people "towards the Orthodox community" in the country: "There are few of us here. But we are protected by the laws of Azerbaijan, by respect from the country's leadership and by the friendliness of our Muslim brothers and sisters."

These statements by the leader of the Orthodox Church in Russia are of great importance for the development of bilateral relations. Given the continuing instability in the Caucasus region, pointing to good relations between Azerbaijanis and Russians is a significant gesture, as foreign forces and their supporters may well try to play the inter-ethnic card to destabilize the situation in both countries. Kirill's remarks clearly indicate that in the event of such a scenario, it will be of an artificial nature.

With the help of Patriarch Kirill, the summit was also attended by the Armenian Catholicos Garegin II, who said that "our duty and obligation" is to support the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. "We want the Armenians and Azerbaijanis to live together in peace once again, the closed borders to open and relations re-established," said His Holiness Garegin II. He proposed holding the next interfaith summit in Yerevan, inviting the head of the Board of Muslims of the Caucasus (BMC), Sheikh Allahsukur Pasazada. In a joint declaration following a trilateral meeting between the patriarch, the catholicos and the sheikh they noted the importance of following "the spiritual guidelines of cooperation which make it possible to overcome alienation between our nations." Thus the religious background was used not only to declare the strategic partnership between Moscow and Baku, but also towards solving the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. It must be noted that the significance of the confessional factor in geopolitics manifested itself in other fields as well.

Ambiguity of the Global Project

The considerable distance between current trends towards globalization and "justice and genuine equality between peoples" was noted by the chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia (CMR), Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gaynutdin. He stressed that, compared with the previous phase, "any material and technical progress that takes no account of ethics and morality only aggravates the situation in some cases".

In this context, Gaynutdin defined the task of the Ummah as urgent collective work "to develop a Muslim strategy and tactics" for the Global Project, although, he said, the process of globalization has an objective character in which the most urgent problem for Muslims appears to be mass "education about themselves, their civilization, its place in history and prospects for its further development." But true Muslim education cannot be restricted to religious knowledge alone. Only by an integrated approach, in which the "religious border" will certainly have an important role, can Muslims navigate properly through a rapidly globalizing world, safeguarding the identity of "their religion and civilization."

In Baku, Gaynutdin touched on another aspect, which has been discussed actively and rather ambiguously in various international constituencies. He noted that "the Creator has placed on people a burden of responsibility which they can only sustain by joint effort." Hence the objective necessity of interaction and cooperation on the most reliable basis - mutual knowledge. But a call for people and whole nations to become closer is not addressed only to Muslims, but to all mankind. "God does not just open the way for people to get closer to each other", he also makes it a compulsory requirement. In general, such an approach was in tune with the document adopted by the Baku meeting.

The prospects for religion in a globalizing world 

In the final document, the participants in the summit touched on periodic global appeals to give up "the originality and integrity of cultures and religions" and move on to "a syncretic system of views and a mix of faiths," noting that such an approach does not lead to unification, but causes even greater schisms. In this respect, it is very important to preserve the opportunity for a person to "follow his world view freely ", even if "the world's elite do not like it", and for people to follow their way of life, even if some find it insufficiently progressive." The relevance of all this is explained by the fact that globalization has not eliminated "threats to the security of states, peoples and individuals", as famine, social inequality, environmental pollution, armed conflicts on ethnic and religious grounds etc. are still to be overcome. "Rich countries are becoming richer and poor countries - poorer, while the unfair distribution of world income attracts more and more criticism. Moreover, there are attempts to push religion to the periphery of public life, denying even the presence of unchanging moral directives in man and society. This opens "the path to total moral nihilism" by the levelling of common values and by the "greedy pursuit of material well-being, comfort and entertainment." The blurring of moral standards leads mankind to death.

Here, religious communities can offer "alternative models of economic development", based on common spiritual values - justice, solidarity, love and respect for people and the centuries-old traditions and cultures of our peoples. Thus, religious leaders can make an important contribution to solving the world's economic and social problems, both at the macro level of international contacts and within their countries and communities. The document adopted noted the relevance of the unity of world religions to counter threats, because "it is exactly the traditional religious communities that are supposed to resist the distortion of religious values in favour of extremists and terrorists," especially in today's circumstances, when terrorism is acquiring an international nature. At the same time, the document emphasizes the need for the free development of each nation; it should decide its own fate and participate effectively in the adoption of all international actions that affect its life. In parallel, the first meeting of the UNESCO consultative group of religious leaders was held on the sidelines of the summit. At one time, the former Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, tried to create such an organization in UNESCO. In reality, it was established upon the initiative of the new head of UNESCO, the first woman to occupy this position, Irina Bokova. This institution could be an excellent opportunity for cooperation between religious activists and UNESCO, and for a dialogue of cultures.

Thus, even a cursory analysis of the results of the Baku meeting clearly demonstrates the geopolitical component of the summit, as well as its importance for the global Muslim community and because it is a huge area of activity for members of the Ummah. But many questions also arise. Unfortunately, they are quite daunting ones. Namely, how ready are we to move forward and lead society to progress? Do we have the internal and external potential? Here, incidentally, we can recall the April Muslim forum in Moscow. In his speech to the forum, the head of the Russian Council of Muftis drew attention to the charisma and credibility of the ideologues of "extremist organizations" who are "young people". In contrast, the Ummah has "failed to nurture such vivid and persuasive leaders, in other words, preachers of true Islam." However, this is a topic for a separate study.

Azerbaijan's role

Against this background, Baku plays an interesting role in the implementation of the above. For example, at the opening ceremony of the summit, President Ilham Aliyev called Azerbaijan "a natural bridge between Europe and Asia." Noting that in this land representatives of different religions and nations have been living as one family for centuries, the head of state stressed the existence of this important factor in modern Azerbaijan as well. At the same time, noting the 20th anniversary of Baku's entry into the OIC and the 10th anniversary of its entry into the Council of Europe, Aliyev called Islam "our sacred religion."

Then, the president, calling Azerbaijan "a country open to the whole world", said that Baku plans to make even greater contributions to the development of relations between Europe and Asia, and between the Christian and Muslim worlds. Having defined globalization as a relatively new topic for the world, he stressed the need for each country and people to take steps to preserve their national and spiritual values, which would allow them to avoid norms being imparted under the guise of globalization which "are not characteristic of the national mentality."

The head of state actually continued what Heydar Aliyev had said at the Baku International Symposium on Islamic Civilization in the Caucasus in distant 1998, focusing in particular on the fact that "we accept Islamic culture and Islamic spiritual values as they are in our holy book - the Koran." Heydar Aliyev said: "Azerbaijan can be a centre of research into Islamic civilization in the Caucasus" and "has the right to be so."

It has the right because the "Baku bridge" between Europe and Asia and the East and the West is not only geographical but also socioeconomic and political. Saying that Azerbaijan united "the Western and Eastern civilizations - both from a geographical and spiritual point of view", Aliyev stressed the great value of this historic mission. He said that in uniting the Christian and Islamic worlds, Azerbaijan will continue to live as an independent state.

Staff shortages

I must say that without a true understanding between representatives of the electorate in society, the stability of the state is always under threat, as external forces could destabilize the situation, using any internal conflict.

As part of the issue, we can highlight another important fact. To what extent is the Ummah in a position to provide the human resources if the Azerbaijani leader's wish becomes reality? The question may be formulated differently: is there a cohort of trained individuals capable of undertaking global challenges in a religious environment?

To obtain a positive answer to these and similar questions, it is necessary to develop conceptual foundations for the development of the Azerbaijani Muslim community in the form of a general concept of interaction between religion, society and the state. But there are serious problems here. Let's assume that a high-quality paper is prepared. What happens next? Who will implement it and how? Are there trained human resources in the required numbers? It is also necessary to provide society with information about the process. Again, who will do this and how?

These questions are far from idle ones. And their relevance goes beyond the framework of shortages, because the presence of the two branches of Islam in Azerbaijan "ensures" too great an affection of their representatives to their own mazhab (school). So, we have to develop a unified approach to every nuance. Again, there are doubts - will representatives of these branches be able to treat each other with respect, at least accepting everyone's right to voice their own point of view?

But this is a private aspect. A more global aspect is whether all sections of the population will want to listen to opinions which differ from their own and not consider their bearers enemies or rogues? Indeed, it is a problem! But, however hard it is, it is advisable to start working in this direction as quickly as possible. Because, as is evident from what President Ilham Aliyev said about the preservation of identity, it is time to form a civil Azerbaijani Islamic identity, which envisages involvement of the population in creating the architecture of a civil society. The first step towards this may be the formation of a single centre to develop conceptual foundations for the development of the Ummah through the consolidation of the community of experts and the spiritual elite of the country. This will make it possible to establish elements of the development of the Ummah as an attribute of civil society based on the inherent values of Islam. Thus, the socio-creative potential of the Muslim religion will be one cementing link in strengthening the foundation of Azerbaijan. It is also possible to define the priorities in systematizing aspects of Islamic education through the preparation of uniform textbooks, course programmes and high quality teachers. The implementation of all this will contribute significantly to the sustained social development of society. That, in turn, will guarantee stability in the country.

This will definitely develop a national idea, which should become a reference point for all citizens of Azerbaijan, regardless of nationality or religion, and without considering their status on the social ladder. The national idea will unite everyone who regards Azerbaijan as their historical homeland, including those living outside the country.