Azerbaijan reverses ban on mosque loudspeakers

"This decision was taken without the president's knowledge," Ali Hasanov, a senior aide to Aliyev, said.

"At a meeting today between the president and the Caucasus Muslim Administration, the decision to forbid the use of loudspeakers for the call to prayer was canceled."

The Caucasus Muslim Administration, which manages Muslim affairs on behalf of the government, imposed the nationwide ban last week, saying that loud calls to prayer were disturbing residents.

The decision caused an outcry among many Azerbaijanis and human-rights groups, who decried the ban as a violation of religious freedoms.

In a statement, the Caucasus Muslim Administration said that Aliyev had told officials that "Azerbaijan is a Muslim country and therefore mosques must broadcast the call to prayer."

Azerbaijan, an oil-rich republic of 8.1 million on the shores of the Caspian Sea, has seen a revival of Muslim faith since it became independent with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Like neighboring Iran, Azerbaijan is a predominantly Shiite Muslim country.

Azerbaijan's secular government has struggled with how to deal with the country's Islamic revival.

Officials have warned that Iran, which has funded the building of mosques and Islamic schools in Azerbaijan, is trying to export its version of radical Islam to the country.

But critics say that the government uses the potential threat of radicalism as a cover for persecuting political opponents. Western governments and international human-rights groups have repeatedly accused Azerbaijan of trampling on religious freedoms. Middle East Times