ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on colliding discourses that become societal and intensified as the authorities with all means try to control discursive as well as social practices, in order to shed light on how some Muslim groups in Azerbaijan became perceived as oppositional. In 2004 the Azerbaijani authorities decided to evict the Juma mosque community from the mosque in Bakus old town where they had been conducting prayers since 1992. Almost 10 years after the Juma incidents the relationship between the Azerbaijani authorities and certain parts of Islamic community is still tense and does from time to time manifest itself in open controversies. According to the 2001 Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Freedom of Religious Belief, membership in the Caucasus Muslim Board is mandatory for Islamic religious communities in Azerbaijan. The chapter discusses the problem through an outline of the Soviet and post-Soviet religious context in Azerbaijan followed by an overview of the major actors and issues of contention.
