Islamic Traditions and Developments in Central Asia

 International University of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

July 27-28, 2017

Conference Program

Theme

In a multicultural world, the issue of humanism has global significance, especially when facing urgent challenges, such as international terrorism. The biggest danger of this global problem lies in the fact that terrorism distorts the spiritual and humanistic essence of religion, in particular Islam, and uses the religious factor as a subtle psychological manipulation tool in the socio-political struggle for the world domination.

The antihuman, misanthropic ideology of terrorism, based on principles of superiority over the other andviolence against all humans, tries to destroy the spiritual foundation of human cultures and civilizations, which are rooted in religion as Samuel Huntington points out in his well-known book Clashes of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. Terrorism wrongly employs the religious factor to motivate its followers in order to deepen the conflict between civilizations and to divide further humankind.

One of the features of the post-Soviet states in Central Asia is the emergence of various religious activitiesamong the population. It is a response to socio-economic, political and cultural challenges developed during the process of transition from totalitarianism to democracy. Increasing numbers of mosques have been built and Muslim adherents have increased in recent years. But traditional understanding and interpretation of Islam has not been adequately promoted in Central Asia. One of the main reasons for religious radicalization in contemporary times is precisely the move away from the spirit of traditional Islam, with the substitution of false and ignorant interpreation of religious doctrines and beliefs.

These circumstances urgen us to rethink how religion can play its important role in the development of democratic states in Central Asia, how a true Islamic education system can be developed with the anthentic Islamic tradition of humanism and dialogue, and how scholars, thinkers and intellectuals should do in order to revive the true Islamic tradition connected with adequate Islamic philosophies, such as Nazzam, Al-Kindi, Averroes, Avicenna, Al-Farabi, Al-Razi, Zamakhshari, Ibn Miskavejh, Ibn Khaldun, Maarri, Suhrawardi, Omar Khayyam, Mevlana, etc.

The purpose of this conference is to re-learning the dialogical and humanistic tradition of Islam and Islamic philosophy so as to develop effective and productive ways of inter-faith dialogue in Central Asia and in the global world.

Subthemes of the conference:

1. History of Islamic philosophy in terms of dialogical and humanistic paradigms

2. Comparative studies and interreligious dialogue

3. Development of Islam and Islmic philosophy in Central Asia