AIT celebrates Heydar Aliyev’s 100th anniversary

Azerbaijan Institute of Theology (AIT) held a discussion on “Heydar Aliyev and our national and moral values in the context of our state's care for religious temples”.

The event was organized in accordance with Azerbaijani President Mr. Ilham Aliyev's decree dated September 29, 2022, "On the declaration of 2023 as the "Year of Heydar Aliyev" in the Republic of Azerbaijan, in order to ensure the state level celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijani people's national leader, Heydar Aliyev."

In his speech, Ph.D. Elnur Mustafayev, Head of the Department of Religion and Public Opinion at ANAS Academician Z.M. Bunyadov Institute of Oriental Studies, stated that when we look at the life history of national leader Heydar Aliyev, we see that he played an exceptional role in preserving centuries-old Azerbaijani traditions, national and moral values, and strengthening the environment of tolerance. E. Mustafayev noted that, following the return to power of the great leader Heydar Aliyev, systematic and consistent efforts were made to ensure religious freedom in our country, to regulate state-religion relations on legal grounds, to strengthen religious tolerance traditions, to protect our national and spiritual values, and to restore our religious monuments.

The speaker emphasized that the great leader Heydar Aliyev paid special attention to studying the history of the spread of Islam in the Caucasus and conducting research in this field. "One of the first important decisions he made in the field of religion at that time was related to the repair and restoration of the Bibiheybat Mosque," he said. As is well known, during the years of Soviet rule, this place of worship, which left a special mark in the memories of the Azerbaijani people, was destroyed and subjected to harsh repression. With the National Leader's attention and care, the mentioned place of worship was repaired and restored to a high level in a short period of time and was made available to believers. Heydar Aliyev himself attended the opening of the mosque and delivered a detailed speech."

E. Mustafayev went on to say that the fact that there were 17 mosques in Azerbaijan before the independence of the country is the result of a long-term policy that was established during those years and is now being successfully implemented.

All of these achievements are the result of our country's legal regulation of state-religion relations, the creation of free conditions for the activities of all religions, and great attention and care to this field beginning with the reign of the National Leader.