Grand Shia Cleric: Islam is a Religion of Friendship, Kindness and Unity

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Referring to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s policies which are based on humanitarian values, the ayatollah reiterated, “The Islamic system is the supporter of the deprived and the oppressed peoples and backs up anyone who suffers from injustice around the globe.”

Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani referred to the ongoing popular movements in America and Europe, adding, “When the entire deprived and oppressed nations would upraise against the oppressors, the ground would be paved for the reappearance of Imam of the Time.”

The source of jurisprudence meanwhile warned against the influence and discord-aimed activities of the Wahhabi sect, reiterating, “That sect intends to sow the seeds of discord among the Muslims resorting to aggressively harsh moves.”

Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani elsewhere in his talks stressed the need for freedom of choosing schools of thought as one of the demands of the Muslim nations.

Referring to the Azerbaijani people’s record of being a religious nation and the people’s interest in observing the religious values, he said that both the continuation of that national characteristic and its role as a strong backing for the people are matters worth due consideration.

Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani referred to the efforts made by the west for promotion of its own culture within the Islamic world, telling the ambassador of Azerbaijan, “The United States and Europe are opposed to the Islamic dress code for women, Hijab, because they consider it as a symbol of Islam and propagate lack of it as their own symbol. Therefore, promotion of Hijab in Islamic countries is among the duties of the government officials and doing so would increase the nations’ satisfaction with the conduct of their governments.”

He added, “The Shi’a Alims and sources of jurisprudence promote the religiously encouraged deeds and demote the deeds that are discouraged in faith, believing that the Zionist regime officials and the United States’ politicians are among the religiously demoted phenomena.”

Ayatollah Hamedani added, “Islam considers no geographical borders because the borders for religion are the barriers of faith, whether they would be Iran, or Bahrain, Palestine, or even the United States.”

This source of jurisprudence reiterated, “It makes no difference for us. If this government of ours, too, would perform a demoted act we would discourage it and if it would do something that is promoted in faith we would encourage it.”

Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani meanwhile pointed out that he has visited many countries, promising to pay a visit to Azerbaijan, as well, on condition that he would have a chance to meet the people there.

The Ambassador of Azerbaijan Republic in IR of Iran Javanshir Akhoundev, too, referring to the closeness of the two countries to each other and the large number of commonalties between them from the historic, religious, and ethical points of view, asked for the expansion of cooperation and promotion of unity between the two Muslim nations.

Akhoundev referred to the construction and renovation of over 1,800 mosques and in Azerbaijan Republic and the increased tendency of the women and girls to wearing the Islamic Hijab there as two major signs that indicate the growth of religious culture in his country after it gained independence.

The Azerbaijan Republic envoy visited the Holy Qom on Monday and had separate meetings and talks with a number of sources of jurisprudence there.

In this visit Akhoundov also had meetings with Grand Ayatollah Hossein Vahid-Khorassani and Grand Ayatollah Abdol-Karim Mousavi-Ardebili.

Officially the “Republic of Azerbaijan” is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south.

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was established in 1918, but incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920. Azerbaijan regained independence in 1991.

Azerbaijan is a secular and a unitary republic with an ancient and historic cultural heritage.

Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries and holds membership in 38 international organizations. It is one of the founding members of GUAM and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). On May 9, 2006 Azerbaijan was elected to membership in the newly established Human Rights Council by the United Nations General Assembly (the term of office began on June 19, 2006). A Special Envoy of the European Commission is present in the country, which is also a member of the United Nations, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and the NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) program. Azerbaijan is a correspondent at the International Telecommunication Union and member of the Non-Aligned Movement and holds observer status in World Trade Organization.

The Constitution of Azerbaijan doesn't declare an official religion but majority of people adherents to the Shi’a branch of Islam, although Muslim identity tends to be based more on culture and ethnicity rather than religion and Azerbaijan remains as one of the most liberal majority-Muslim nations.

After gaining its independence, Azerbaijan has reached a high level of human development, economic development, standard of living, and literacy rate as well as a low rate of unemployment and intentional homicide compared to other Eastern European and CIS countries. On 1 January 2012, the country will start a 2-year term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

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