Chingiz Huseynov: Let's hope for the true flourishing of Islam

Question: You have written three books about the prophet: "Do not let the water spill from the overturned jug" (2003), "Meraj" (2008), "Mohammed" (2017). Are these three works, a trilogy, a re- issue, or completely different works?

Chingiz Huseynov: No, the works are of different genre: the first is the "Quranic narrative", that is, an attempt in the Qur'anic style ("stream of consciousness", associativity) to comprehend the phenomenon of prophecy. The second is a novel entirely based on the plot of Mohammed's way from Mecca to Jerusalem (this is Isra) and meeting with the prophets (meraj). The third one written is an analytical study of the biography of Muhammad, his role in giving us the text of the Koran, about the human factor (insan əli!) in the structure of the Divine Book, about Muhammad as a prophet and statesman written in a religiously secular style. Of course, there are many of the same pictures and episodes in the publication, but each time they were inscribed in the context of the genre. So this is not a trilogy, not a re-issue, but a new book.

Question: Why do you periodically return to the theme of the Koran and Muhammad?

Chingiz Huseynov: Each time there was a new impulse: in the first case, the protection of Islam in the person of my relatives as a universal civilization, when Armenian extremists in the Karabakh conflict, flirting with the Politburo and in order to attract it to their side, loudly announced that "the barbarians" destroy them, a progressive Christians. The second time it was an attempt to bring ideas to Azerbaijan, Baku, purely educational purposes; and in the third case, the urgent task of saving the Koran, its ethical core, bringing it closer to other religions, became urgent. However, modern Islamic extremists has turned the Koran into a weapon of murder; now the world connects terror with the name of Islam. That's what has changed.

Question: What has changed since the first edition? Do you have more supporters or opponents?

Chingiz Huseynov: There are many supporters, I expressed these ideas even in Baku, in 2002, and also in Germany in front of the Turks, in Istanbul (2006) at the conference "Koran and Science". I also have opponents, and the reason for this is stagnation, ignorance of the Koran text, slavish adherence to the interpretations of the 9th-10th centuries, unchanged to this day, according to which the Christians and Jews spiritually related to Muslims are declared unfaithful, and their books are considered "abolished", and unwillingness to follow common sense.

Question: What should be done to prevent Islam from becoming associated with extremism and intolerance?

Chingiz Huseynov: But we admit an indisputable fact that there is a split in the world, and other Abrahamic beliefs, especially Christianity (crusades, anti-Semitism, etc.) are guilty of this; but that is a distant past. Today only with the name of Islam blood is being shed, and the theory and practice of ISIL has become the peak of Evil. If it were not for this, we could be satisfied with the forms of discussions, revealing contradictions, and so on. What to do? On the one hand, to destroy terrorists, because it is a war, and on the other hand, to fight with Koran in hands, developing its ethics, against ignorance; to find points of rapprochement with other Abrahamic religions. Yes, I agree with you, I put your question into the category of approval.

Question: Do not you think that the Abrahamic religions have distanced from their mission of uniting humanity around the idea of ​​a single God, and today, whether it's free or not, they have brought humanity to disengage, to enmity, and intolerance?

Chingiz Huseynov: Yes, I think; therefore, according to my initiative, I can say, has been set up the Discussion Club "Trilogy of Religions" in Jerusalem, but I admit that all this, and my books too, are still zero in their effectiveness, in other words, Sisyphean labor. But you can not remain silent.

Question: What is the continuation of Islam? Can it go through the Christian renaissance of the Renaissance epoch?

Chingiz Huseynov: Let's hope (hopes are not only for the youth!), as it was in the Middle Ages, on the true flowering of Islam, hope that it will get rid of all that has been said above, and will set foot on the path of the Renaissance.