Social Science Research Council

Asan Saipov
Teacher of History of Islam-Islamic University of Kyrgyzstan
Indiana University, Fall 2004

Educated from 1993-1998 at Osh State University's Department of Theology in religious studies and theology. He is currently continuing his education at the Kyrgyz National University where he is pursuing graduate studies in history. He argues that he would like to see the Academy of Sciences in Kyrgyzstan recognize the history of Islam among its many subjects, which it currently does not. He chose to enter graduate studies in history, because he feels this is the only path currently available to study Islam in a scholarly manner within Kyrgyzstan. Currently making use of translations from both Turkish and Arabic texts in his classes, he would very much like to complete his own textbook that displays a middle-ground approach between that found in either the Turkish or Arabic approaches. Mr. Saipov speaks Kyrgyz, Russian, Turkish and Arabic and is studying English. He is the editor of the newspaper "Islamic Civilizations," and he is interested in learning more about Islam in Central Asia, the history of World Religions, Philosophy of Religion and Islamic Law. He is looking forward to making use of the library sources while in the United States (references texts in Arabic, Turkish, and/or Russian), and he would also like to meet with Muslim communities in the U.S. if possible.