Several Restrictions on Religious Activity Lifted Before Islamic Solidarity Games

Several restrictions on Azerbaijani citizens who have received religious educations abroad have been lifted according to a meeting of the Parliament on Public Unions and Religious Organizations.

A man wearing an Islamic prayer cap, or “Kufi”, looks at Islamic books on display at a bookshop located in the western Sydney suburb of Lakemba October 3, 2014. Last month, the national security agency raised its four-tier threat level to “high” for the first time and about 900 police launched raids on homes in Sydney’s predominantly Muslim western suburbs and in Brisbane. Only about half a million people out of Australia’s 23.5 million are Muslims, making them a tiny fraction in a country where the final vestiges of the “White Australia” policy were only abolished in 1973, allowing large scale non-European migration. At least half of Australia’s Muslims live in Sydney’s western suburbs, which were transformed in the mid-1970s from white working-class enclaves into majority-Muslim outposts by a surge of immigration from Lebanon. Picture taken October 3, 2014. To match Insight MIDEAST-CRISIS/AUSTRALIA REUTERS/David Gray (AUSTRALIA – Tags: RELIGION POLITICS SOCIETY) – RTR491LT

Several restrictions on Azerbaijani citizens who have received religious educations abroad have been lifted according to a meeting of the Parliament on Public Unions and Religious Organizations.

According to the current version of the law, it is prohibited for foreigners or persons without Azerbaijani citizenship to engage in missionary or seminary activity in the country.

The new bill will allow for religious leaders invited by religious centers to conduct religious activities in the country.

“It will also allow Azerbaijani citizens to conduct religious rites and rituals after receiving explicit permission from the Caucasian Muslim Board”, said Chairman of the Public Unions and Religious Organisations Committee Siyavush Novruzov.

The new law will also allow for temporary exchanges between Azerbaijani and foreign religious institutions.

Azerbaijan will host the Islamic Solidarity Games from May 12 – 22 this year.