LEGITIMACY AND DEVOUTNESS

Azerbaijan has seen different attitudes towards religion at various periods in its history - from total piety to the total rejection of religion. As we know, history provides the best examples of positive and negative developments. We may conclude today that extremes are not always good for the development of civilization. There is a need for balance between secularism and religion in society, and every person should be free to make his own choice.

According to Articles 18 and 48 of the Constitution, religion is separate from the state in Azerbaijan, and we live in a secular society. Now we can talk openly about our affiliation to this or that religious group or avow no religion. But not everything is perfect in our country, and we cannot claim that there are no religious disputes in society. In the last few years, the number of women who wear Muslim clothes - the hijab - has increased noticeably in Azerbaijan. This tendency arouses mixed responses from society. It is not easy to find a happy medium to ensure that the rights of no social strata are trampled upon. Everyone believes that only they are right and does not want to listen to their opponents' arguments. For this reason, the search for that happy medium continues.

The hijab as a stumbling block

Many countries in the world experience this problem, and every country tries to solve it in its own way. For example, in 1925 Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk issued a special decree banning the hijab during official events. He tried to emphasize the secular nature of the state. The current Turkish leadership, which came to power upon slogans of "moderate Islamism", went even further. Prime Minister Erdogan decided not to invite to any public events the wives of members of parliament and ministers who had been seen wearing the hijab. This is not to mention that in institutions of education the ban on this traditional outfit is strictly controlled in Turkey by the supreme council to oversee institutions of higher education and the department of justice and is consistently implemented despite protests from certain sections of society.

Thus, the hijab has long since become a kind of symbol which causes extremely contradictory attitudes and heated public-political discussions. For example, the ban on the hijab has become topical in a number of European states with large Muslim communities.

It is well-known that, in March 2004, the National Assembly of France banned religious symbols in state-owned schools, a decision that provoked different responses from the French and world communities. Followers of different religions were banned from wearing religious symbols in state-owned schools: Sikh turbans, Jewish hats, the Muslim hijab and large Christian crosses. Although other religious symbols were also banned, it was the hijab that caused the most heated discussions. Proponents of the ban were motivated by the need to ensure that the secular nature of education is one of the basic values of the French state and society established by the French Revolution of 1789 and legally confirmed in the form of the complete separation of the church from the state in 1905. A similar ban was proposed by the authorities in several federal regions of Germany. Religious symbols are also banned in most Belgian schools. The Belgian media reports that the state does not interfere in this matter because schools decide all issues related to pupils' clothes independently. The overwhelming majority of Belgian schools allow pupils to wear jewellery, but it cannot contain religious symbols. But this critical attitude to the hijab does not prevail in the institutions of education of every European country. In Britain there was 16-year-old Muslim girl, Shabina Begum, who won her case in the British Court of Appeal. She was expelled from school for wearing a jilbab - a special head garment that falls to the feet. After lengthy hearings, the court ruled that the management of the school had violated the girl's right to freedom of faith. Lord Brooke, a member of the British Court of Appeal, said that the girl's expulsion from school for wearing a traditional Muslim outfit instead of a school uniform was illegal, as this runs counter to the European Convention of Human Rights. The judge urged the Ministry of Education to carry out more effective work with schools in order to explain the essence of the law on human rights. Meanwhile, problems with the hijab are more of a national security issue rather than a psychological one. Specifically, should a Muslim woman have her photo taken for her ID with or without the hijab?

State interests are supreme

Our country has the same laws for all citizens, which is why people should have their photo taken for ID cards and passports without a head garment, and there are no exceptions here, the press service of the Interior Ministry told R+. The reason is that Azerbaijan is a secular state.

According to Interior Ministry staff, a passport photo with a head garment does not allow a person to be identified properly. In the current unstable situation in the world, and due to the outbreak of terrorism, such an approach is simply unacceptable. Incidentally, a number of Azerbaijani rights campaigners held a meeting with Interior Minister Ramil Usubov recently. During the meeting, the minister pointed out that the whole world is adopting a biometric system for passports, and a similar system will soon be adopted in Azerbaijan. Therefore, after this system is introduced, women wearing the hijab will have no more problems with their documents. The new passports will use a completely different system of identifying people - fingerprints, the iris of the eye and so on.

The head of the press service of the Board of Muslims of the Caucasus, Haci Akif, maintains that no-one can ban anyone from professing one or another religion in our country. However, we should not forget that Azerbaijan is a secular state. In general, this is an artificial problem. "Indeed, there are sometimes opponents of the hijab. Some institutions of education justify this by the fact that these schools and universities in Azerbaijan are secular, which is why religious symbols are inappropriate there, but such cases are more the exception than the rule. At the same time, we have religious institutions of education, such as madrasas, where believers can wear anything they think is appropriate," Haci Akif said.

The Ministry of Education told our R+ correspondent that the director of every school is authorized to make independent decisions regarding children's attire. The country's secondary schools provide secular education, while internal disciplinary rules, including attire, are defined by the director.

Are a secular society and religion compatible?

The head of the Centre to Protect Freedom of Conscience and Faith (DEVAMM), Ilqar Ibrahimoglu, thinks that there is no need to politicize the problem of the hijab. This is simply the right of every person to freedom of faith. "The ban on the hijab violates the right of a woman to freedom of faith, which causes a whole number of problems. For example, the problem of passports and ID cards for women wearing the hijab has remained unsolved for nine years in Azerbaijan. The thing is that due to her religious convictions, a woman cannot have her passport photo taken without a head garment, and her photo in a hijab is not accepted for documents. This problem has quite a high profile compared to previous years. Several years ago, Azerbaijani women encountering such religious discrimination were numbered in dozens. Today thousands of women cannot get their documents. According to our survey, about 3,500 women had encountered this problem by 2003."

Incidentally, according to a DEVAMM survey, Azerbaijan is only one of a few countries where this issue is so important, because you have to bear in mind that, without an ID card, women lose their civil and political rights. For example, in neighbouring Russia this problem was solved in 2001. In Europe and Turkey, women wearing the hijab do not have any problems when they apply for their passport. As for all the possible problems related to the hijab in various institutions of education and other organizations, their number has dropped recently in Azerbaijan.

In 2001-2002, the hijab became a subject of discussion at Baku State University, but then female students managed to defend their right to freedom of faith, as did students of the Azerbaijani State Medical University in 2003. The last incident of this sort occurred at Sumqayit State University, when eight students were expelled for wearing the hijab. However, Elmira Suleymanova, a human rights representative in Azerbaijan, intervened in the situation then. Thanks to her support, the right of these students to education was restored.

It is clear that we should not overstep the mark in any circumstance. We all know that extreme measures are a sign of narrow-mindedness. But at the same time, the issue of an acceptable balance between the secular and religious communities of the country still remains open…