In the name of Allah
The Merciful The Compassionate

Dear believing brothers and sisters! Dear parishioners of Juma Mosque, the people full of dignity and honor!
With the feeling of great pride I consider it necessary to say that the hardest exams accompanying the current days of “Ayyami-Fatima” (“the Days of Saint Fatima (s.a.)”) have been passed with honor. It is necessary to note that these exams have been passed in all the aspects. Despite the slander, provocations, violence, arrests and pressure, You – the glorious followers of Ahli-Beit (a) have not run counter to Your conscience. You have been among those who, by their deeds, vivify the holy religion sent by the Creator, among those who support the holy doctrine of the Prophet (a) and of the Ahli-Beit (a) based on conscience, dignity and justice. This doctrine comprises the divine civil position conformable to the slogan “Every day is Ashura and everywhere is Kerbala”; it includes the understanding of the tragedy of seizure of “Fedek” garden belonging to Fatima (s.a.) This doctrine covers the philosophy of Zeinab (a) who said in Kerbala: “How wonderful is all that I had to live through here!”.
My dear! Of course, it is possible to force the believers off the walls of Juma. It is possible to lock the doors of the God’s Temple for the believers on the pretext of repair. But there is nothing that can remove from the believers’ hearts the spirit of Juma, the morality of Juma, the purity of Juma – all which is based on the purest love for Allah, his Prophet (s) and for Ahli-Beit (s). I ask from the Most High Allah the true patience and dignity so that to overcome all these exams with honor. Everybody must know, thousands of believers must be sure that by means of all the legal methods we will certainly restore our rights!
My dear! We are awaited by a lot of Fridays. And like the rising Sun, the justice will triumph. And Mehdi (a.f.) awaited by us will come on one of these Fridays and by his blessed advent he will fill the universe with peace and welfare.
Let the Most High make this Friday blessed for You!
Let the Most High guard You!
Oh, my Allah! Send upon all the true believers, inclusive of the glorious parishioners of Juma Mosque, the happiness to be the community worthy of Imam Mehdi (a.f.)! AMIN!

Hajji Ilgar,
Imam-jamaat of Juma Mosque
16th July 2004
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About a free man

HADIS

On behalf of imam Ali (a): “Be servant of no one (but of Allah)! For Allah created you free”.

PULSE OF THE DAY

Information of DEVAMM The Center for protection of conscience and persuasion freedom: (www.devamm.org)

On the 30th June, 2004 the policemen applied violence against the believers of Juma Mosque during the prayer and forced them off the Mosque.
The morning azan (the call for prayer) has not been sounded since the 30th of June up to now, until the 9th of July the believers were not allowed to enter the Mosque for the morning prayer and beginning from the 9th of July they have not been allowed to enter the Mosque at all.
On the 3rd of July, 2004 there started the new bout of violence against the believers of Juma Mosque. On that day the Mosque was fully encircled by the police staff, the unknown people blocked the praying site of imam-jamaat, the technical supply items, meant for a sermon, were taken away.
However, the believers responding to the call of imam-jamaat of Juma Mosque Ilgar Ibrahimoglu did not fall to any provocations. They calmly performed the collective prayer and right after that started to leave the Mosque. But suddenly the policemen began rushing into the Mosque. With their boots they stepped on the praying carpets, pushed the believers off the Mosque and poured the scolding words down on them. Besides, the believers were demanded to perform a prayer standing behind the appointed person.
The 4th of July was the culmination of violation of the religious freedom. In the afternoon of that day when the believers were performing the collective prayer, the provocateurs attacked the person acting as imam-jamaat and tore the ritual clothes off him. After that the policemen again rushed into the Mosque and insulting the believers started to force them off the Mosque in spite even of the fact that they were praying.
In the evening of the 4th of July the situation got more complicated. The police staff lined in front of the entrance to the Mosque, insulted the believers who came in the Mosque, humiliated their dignity and threatening with arrests demanded that they should perform the prayer behind the appointed person. After beginning of the prayer, about ten policemen stood in front of the substitute of imam-jamaat and demanded that he should stop the prayer threatening him with the arrest. When the imam-jamaat was making the “sedje” (the earth bow), for the first time in the history of the country, having violated all the written and unwritten laws, the policemen attacked the imam-jamaat and, beating, dragged him towards the exit. After that a large group of policemen rushed into the Mosque and began to beat the praying believers and to push them outside. The believers, saying to each other to be patient, left the Mosque. But the policemen continued beating the believers even outside the Mosque. Moreover, it was not enough for the policemen and they started chasing the believers hundreds of meters away from the Mosque.
It is necessary to note that none of the believers fell to the provocations and even did not respond to the insults. Tens of people were arrested. Most of them were released but four of them were taken to the police department. There they were put under the physical and moral tortures and were demanded to sign a paper forbidding them to further visit Juma Mosque. The believers refused to sign this paper saying that such a demand violated their religious freedoms.
On the 5th of July, about the noon, the police established the block posts around the Mosque and, seizing all the believers, dragged them into buses. Some of the detained ones were taken to the 39th police station, some were taken to the 9th police station of Sabail district and some of them were released after interference of journalists. The arrested believers were demanded to sign the paper saying that they would not visit Juma Mosque. Most of the attested ones were illegally fined only for going to the Mosque to pray. Only the interference of the human rights activists, journalists and representatives of the international human rights organizations helped to avoid the long arrest of the believers.
On the 5th of July, despite all the rules of morality, there were arrested 11 women who had addressed DEVAMM with the complaints regarding the violation of their rights.
Taking the situation into account, imam-jamaat of Juma Mosque Ilgar Ibrahimoglu addressed the believers with the appeal to restrain themselves from going to the Mosque so that to avoid further arrests and provocations.
The 7th of July, 2004 was marked by another act of vandalism. Thus, with the façade paint there were coated the ancient patterns of oriental ornament decorating the dome of Juma Mosque.
On the 7th of July, 37 Muslim religious organizations made a statement, which sharply condemned the violence against the believers and demanded to put an end to the persecutions against I.Ibrahimoglu and the religious community of Juma Mosque.
On the 8th of July, 2004 there started coming the information about provocations being arranged for Friday, the 9th of July. Taking the situation into consideration, imam-jamaat of Juma Mosque Ilgar Ibrahimoglu made a statement for the believers of Juma Mosque and at the specially organized press conference he made this statement public through the mass media. The statement read that with the purpose of avoiding the planned provocations, he called for the believers to strictly restrain themselves from going to the Mosque on Friday.
In the evening of the 8th of July the hurriedly created commission took a decision to close the Mosque for repair. It took place in spite of the numerous assurances of officials that the Mosque would not be closed. Let us remind that before these events the representatives of the religious community Juma Mosque as well as the human rights activists had for many times warned the public that the Mosque would be closed on the pretext of repair.
On the 9th of July the believers, being warned by imam-jamaat of Juma Mosque Ilgar Ibrahimoglu, restrained themselves from going to the Mosque. However, a small group of non-informed believers of 15-20 people (it is less than 1 per cent of the usual number of the parishioners) came up to the Mosque about the time of the prayer and, having seen the closed doors, started to pray right in front of the doors of the Mosque. In order not to let the provocations take place, a representative of the religious community went to the Mosque. He addressed the believers with the request to disperse. However, the police did not let the believers disperse and began arresting them. More than ten people were arrested and four of them, inclusive of the representative of the community, were taken to the police department and then to court. There they were warned.
The above clearly proves the availability of the provocative plans in respect of the believers of Juma Mosque. It is possible to say that the religious community was able to prevent a big provocation and to prove once again that the community of Juma Mosque protects its rights exclusively by means of peaceful and non-violent methods. Never once over the indicated period of time have the believers let themselves be dragged into the provocation.
The day of the 9th of July was remembered as one of the bitterest days in terms of the freedom of religion. It was for the first time over 12 years that the believers were not able to perform a collective Friday prayer, which is one of the main attributes of Islam religion.
31 people have been arrested since the 30th of June. Thanks to the efforts of the human rights activists all of them have been released. As of today, thousands of believers are deprived of the fundamental right to perform the collective prayer in the Mosque. DEVAMM has already received more than 500 complaints from believers concerning the violation of the religious freedom. Within the nearest future DEVAMM intends to deliver the general report on monitoring over the current events.