Dear Ilham Heydar oglu!
On behalf of the religious leaders and believers of the Caucasus, we congratulate you on your victory in the presidential election. The support given to you by most voters, including the believers of all traditional religious confessions of the country, is further evidence of the attitude to you as a leader of multinational Azerbaijan.
The election results have proved that people appreciate the positive changes in the life of the Republic of Azerbaijan which have occurred largely because of your loyalty to the political course of nationwide leader Heydar Aliyev. The people of Azerbaijan have made the right choice – the choice of a stable development of the motherland which gives them the opportunity to multiply the achievements already made and move along the path of moral perfection and spiritual revitalization. We are witnessing your personal involvement in the restoration and return to the people of great spiritual monuments, mosques and places of worship in Azerbaijan.
We are pleased that two neighborly countries, Azerbaijan and Russia, the states with significant economic potential and integrated into the world community, have built a modern social model and are creating the necessary conditions for the spiritual life of citizens regardless of their nationality and religion. All of this, as well as the centuries-old tradition of tolerance of our peoples, their contribution to the interreligious dialogue and multiculturalism, have earned our nations and their leaders widespread international recognition and the blessings of the Almighty. For our part, we, the religious leaders, support the efforts of our heads of state made in the name of peace and reconciliation between our peoples.
We are confident that your respect for all traditional religions, including Islamic traditions, and your decisive condemnation of any manifestations of Islamophobia have earned you great respect throughout the Islamic world and will be a significant contribution to the further development of the interreligious dialogue and understanding.
We know that the Muslims of Azerbaijan visiting holy land on the eve of the Hajj voted for you as a guarantor of stability and development of the country and their religious freedoms. A big role in your current success has been played by your vision of the future of our country seen through practical steps whose glory has long gone beyond the boundaries of Azerbaijan. We, religious leaders, are particularly pleased that high on the agenda are spirituality, concern about religious monuments and a responsive attitude to the needs of the faithful. We appreciate your support in the establishment of a fund on the development of religious culture, which will certainly play an important part in the development of spirituality not only in Azerbaijan and the CIS, but also beyond. We are grateful to you for all this and also for the fact that your words and deeds are always together. We always look forward to meeting you, as each meeting inspires us to serve the cause of strengthening the spiritual ties between the peoples of Russia and Azerbaijan.
We, religious leaders, will continue to do everything we can for the establishment of true spiritual and moral ideals in the region, the constant values on which our common home, the Caucasus, has been built for centuries.
May God bless you and grant you mercy in your next period of service to the public!
Amen!
Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade
Chairman of the Supreme Religious Council of Peoples of the Caucasus, Chairman of Caucasus Muslims Office
Sultan Mirzayev
Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Religious Council of Peoples of the Caucasus, the Mufti of the Chechen Republic
Members of the Supreme Religious Council of Peoples of the Caucasus:
Ismail Berdiyev
Chairman of the Coordinating Center of Muslims of the North Caucasus, the Mufti of Karachay-Cherkessia
Aleksandr Ishchein
Archbishop of Baku and Azerbaijan
Isa Khamkhoev
Mufti of the Republic of Ingushetia
Akhmed Abdullayev
Mufti of the Republic of Dagestan
Khazretali Dzasezhev
Mufti of the Republic of Kabarda-Balkaria
Gadzhi-Murat Gatsalov
Mufti of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania
Sultan-Akhmed Karalayev
Mufti of the Republic of Kalmykia
Shafig Pshikhachev
President of the World Islamic Mission, representative of the Coordinating Center of Muslims of the North Caucasus in Russia, member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation
Sharafutdin Chochayev
Rector of the North Caucasus Islamic University of Imam Abu Hanifa
Nurbiy Emizh
Member of the Supreme Religious Council of Peoples of the Caucasus
