State Committee on religious affairs set up

President Aliyev decreed Friday to set up the State Committee on religious affairs in lieu of the religious department under the Cabinet of Ministers. The challenges the new committee is facing include control over the observance of legal acts pertaining to the freedom of religion and state registration of religious entities.

The committee has the authority to intervene in the work of religious organizations to the extent envisioned by law. However, the committee cannot intervene in issues of the freedom of religion and provide financial assistance to religious organizations. A renowned Oriental researcher, Dr. Prof. Rafiq Aliyev has been appointed as chairman of the committee.

Religious life needs state regulation

Speaking of the importance of the newly-established State Committee on religious affairs in an interview with AssA-Irada, its chairman Rafiq Aliyev said the rampant spread of religious sects and movements had necessitated the introduction of state regulation of inter-confessional relations. He stated that the state must take the monopoly into its hands. The committee is expected to regulate and closely cooperate with all confessions, including Muslim, Christian and Jewish. Asked about the dangerous proportions the propaganda of Wahabism and Islamic extremism is assuming in Azerbaijan, R. Aliyev said it is not Islamic extremism that matters, as any kind of extremism is perilous. The committee will deal with the problem, but it is first necessary to thoroughly study the religious situation in the country before a work plan can be developed, he said.

Dr. Aliyev, 54, was born in 1947 in Agdam. He has graduated from the Oriental Studies Faculty of Baku State University, is a well-known researcher of the Arab world, Doctor, Professor. Dr. Aliyev was deputy director of the Institute for Oriental Studies under the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences. At present, he is director of "Irshad", the Islamic Research Center, and author of 8 books and over 100 religious works. Dr. Aliyev spent many years working in Yemen, Algeria and Syria.

Dr. Aliyev is also known beyond Azerbaijan, as he is a member of the Scientific Council for African studies under the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Azerbaijan representative of the International Inter-Confessional Federation headquartered in New York and Seoul, and a member of the International Information Academy based in Moscow and New York

He is married with two children and a grandchild.