Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan
Participants at Baku Regional Conference, 2009.
Location of Azerbaijan
National Assembly		Azerbaijan
Statistics:
Total Population
-	UN 2021	10,312,992
Bahá'í pop.
-	Bahá'í source
-	Non-Bahá'í source	1,885
History: Firsts
-	National Assembly	1992
Official Website		http://www.bahai.az/
Related media
Categories: Azerbaijan • People

The Republic of Azerbaijan is a country located partially within Eastern Europe and partly in West Asia. Azerbaijani is its official language and Islam is the predominant religion.

The region was ruled by Persia up until the 19th century when it was conquered by the Russian Empire. In 1918 it became a Republic following the Russian Revolution and it was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920. It remained part of the Soviet Union until achieving independence again in 1991 adopting its current constitution in 1995.

A Bahá’í community was established in Azerbaijan during the lifetime of Bahá’u’lláh however it faced escalating oppression from the 1920s to the 1930s ultimately being banned in 1938. Religious restrictions began to relax in the 1980s and the Bahá’í community was re-established and consolidated in the 1990s.

History

Bahá’ís settled in Azerbaijan during the lifetime of Bahá’u’lláh and a Bahá’í community was established in Baku in the 1880's. From 1928 the government of the Soviet Union began enacting oppressive measures on the Bahá’í community and in 1938 public practice of the religion was officially outlawed, although Bahá’ís remained in the country with isolated communities existing as of 1963.

In the 1980's religious restrictions in the Soviet Union began to relax and in the late 1980's the wider Bahá’í community was able to establish contact with Bahá’ís living in Azerbaijan who were descendants of the early Azerbaijani Bahá’ís and had remained faithful despite the restrictions placed on the religion.

In 1990 the Soviet Union enacted religious freedom and Bahá’ís began to actively teach in Azerbaijan and by 1992 there were three Local Spiritual Assemblies in the country and around one hundred and fifty Bahá’ís mostly living in Baku. The National Spiritual Assembly of Azerbaijan was established in 1992. In 1996 the Education Ministry of Azerbaijan approved the use of a Bahá’í textbook authored by ‘Alí-Akbar Furútan in schools and colleges in the country, and in 1997 a Bahá’í Summer School was held in Azerbaijan.

In February 2009 a major Bahá’í Regional Conference was held in Baku at which the work of the Bahá’í community and the institute process in Azerbaijan and neighbouring countries were discussed and consulted on. In 2021 the Bahá’í community of Azerbaijan's Office of External Affairs launched Discourse TV, a television program hosting discussions on issues of national concern, and in 2024 the Bahá’í community collaborated with the Azerbaijan State Committee on Religious Associations to hold a conference on the harmony of science and religion.