The SMMC is accusing Rafiq Aliyev of making the historical monument of Sheikh Zahid into a place of pilgrimage, in order to transform it into a source of personal income. In addition, he and his deputy Mir Yahya are accused of generating friction between the population and government officials.

The SCWRF retaliated by arguing that SMMC representative in Lenkoran Haji Ahund Gani is obstructing the work of law enforcement bodies. According to the SCWRF press service, Haji Ahund Gani monthly sets up a box for donations labeled \"Management of Muslims of the Caucasus\" at the site, takes all the collected money without giving anything from these donations to the lawful community of the sanctuary. \"The committee has considered the complaint of the religious community and has asked law enforcement bodies to investigate these facts. They accuse Ahund Gani of turning the problem into one of conflict between the state and religion, by blackmailing the State committee.

Rafiq Aliyev refused to comment on the issue for press. \"Each legal and physical person has the right to bring a lawsuit for any reason. I don’t know the details and it’s difficult for me to tell what the court will rule” Aliyev stated.

This is not the first instance of conflict between these two institutions tasked with supervising religious activity in Azerbaijan. The SMMC has met earlier SCWRF initiatives on exerting control over religious education with disapproval, as it has for the Committee’s attempts to control the professional certification of ecclesiastics, amend the SMMC’s regulations, or make public the financial activity of religious centers and mosques.

According to experts on the religious situation in Azerbaijan, the government used to partially supervise the religious sphere in the country through the SMMC. Only after the creation of the SCWRF in June 2001, the state began to bear the responsibility for the religious needs of the population. Moreover, the SMMC is unable to supervise all religious activity in the country, being responsible only for Muslims. Therefore, the State Committee was established, with greater powers. According to theology specialist Nariman Gasymogly, SMMC and SCWRF have struggled for the expansion of their influence in the religious sphere, a situation intentionally created by authorities with the purpose to have two rivaling tools for the control of religious activity in the country. “At the first stage of this struggle, greater support was given to the State Committee, but when a political necessity to use religion for its interests emerged, the authorities supported the SMMC even though it is not state organization, although it is completely loyal to the government”, said Gasymogly.

Gasymogly argues that it is necessary to end the present religious diarchy. \"It is necessary to keep the SCWRF as the state, not interfering with the business of religion, should monitor the observance of laws. The SMMC, by comparison, is not new and it does not meet the interests of believers, and does not stimulate the development of Islamic ideas. The SMMC has no right to publish instructions, and should be abolished”.

Recently, SCWRF Head Rafiq Aliyev expressed doubts regarding the sum which the SMMC demands for the organization of pilgrimages. SMMC leader, Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade declared that there are documents specifying expense for the air flight to the Hajj. He went on to accuse Aliyev of interference with the humanitarian actions of the SMMC.

Both figures publicly expected the other to ‘get wiser with time’, with Aliyev adding that Pashazade’s lifelong position as SMMC Head is “categorically illegal”. Pashazade replied that he was elected to this post at the congress of the SMMC, and this was based on the charter of his organization. The conflict between the two is unlikely to abate, with unpredictable consequences.