Muslim Societies in Central Eurasia: Intellectual Legacy, Contemporary Realities, and Future Directions

The 9th Forum on 

"Muslim Societies in Central Eurasia: Intellectual Legacy, Contemporary Realities, and Future Directions"

Organized jointly by the Institute of Knowledge Integration (IKI), the Alliance of Civilizations Institute (MEDIT) at Ibn Haldun University, and the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), the 9th Forum on "Muslim Societies in Central Eurasia: Intellectual Legacy, Contemporary Realities, and Future Directions" brings together an international assembly of scholars, institutional leaders, and practitioners to address the evolving socio-religious landscape of the region. The program demonstrates exceptional thematic breadth, spanning epistemological renewal and Qur’anic methodology, educational transformations in the institutions, Islamic spirituality and its role in the contemporary Muslim communities, the Jadidist movement and its impact in shaping the intellectual thought of the region, new strategies to better economic well-being, challenges faced by Muslims in Muslim-minority countries, and understanding the dynamics of multi-religious minorities and diaspora communities in the region. Centered on intellectual, cultural, and socio-religious dimensions of Muslim life, the conference hosts more than 34 individuals, scholars, researchers and presenters from 19 institutions, the prominent universities, and educational institutions; 9 research centers and organizations from 12 countries across Central Eurasia, including Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Kazakhsatn, Kyzgyzstan), Eastern and Western Europe(Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Spain, Ukraine), North America (the USA, Canada), Southeast Asia (Malaysia), Russia, and host country, Turkey. By bridging historical intellectual heritage with the contemporary lived experiences, the forum serves as a vital interdisciplinary platform for advancing value-oriented social sciences and future-oriented methodologies across Central Eurasia.

You can find the program flow below:

INSTITUTE OF KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION (IKI)

ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS INSTITUTE (MEDIT), IBN HALDUN UNIVERSITY  

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ISLAMIC THOUGHT (IIIT)

9TH Forum 

Muslim Societies in Central Eurasia: 

Intellectual Legacy, Contemporary Realities, and Future Directions

 

23-27 October 2026

Venue: Süleymaniye Salis Madrasa (MEDIT)

 Süleymaniye Mah. Mimar Sinan Cad. No:38/1 Fatih/Istanbul

 

October 23, 2026

Arrival and lodging of the forum participants 

Day 1 (October 24, 2026) 

09.30-10.00 Registration 

10.00-10.45 Opening Session 

            Recitation of the Qur’an

Opening Remarks:

          Ercüment Asil (Director, Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Ibn Haldun University)

Mohammad Totonji (Member of the Board of Trustees, IIIT)

Gapur Oziev (Managing Director, Institute of Knowledge Integration)

Welcoming Speech:

Atilla Arkan (Rector,  Ibn Haldun University) (subject to availability )

10.45-11.30 Keynote Address: Epistemological Renewal as the Basis for Development of Muslim Societies

Speaker: Omar Hasan Kasule (Member of the Board of Trustees, IIIT)

Chair: Gapur Oziev (Managing Director, Institute of Knowledge Integration, IKI)

11.30-12.30 Panel 1. Islamic Education in Post-Soviet Central Asia: Historical Legacies, Institutional Transformations, and Future Prospects

Chair: Vahdettin Işık (Head of Civilization Studies Program, Ibn Haldun University)

Uygun Gafurov (Rector, Tashkent Islamic Institute named after Imam al-Bukhari, Uzbekistan), History and Prospects of the Islamic Education System in Uzbekistan

Rouslan Jalil (Research Fellow, University of Magdeburg; Program Manager, Bergmann Institute in Hannover, Germany), Islamic Higher Education in Post-Soviet Central Asia: Between Secular Governance and Islamic Educational Activism

12.30-14.00 Lunch Break

14.00-15.00 Discussion Panel: New Trends in Islamic Intellectual Thought and Education  

Moderator: Gapur Oziev (Managing Director, IKI)

Discussant 1: Ildus Rafikov (Director of Academic Affairs, IKI)

Discussant 2: Ayaz Asadov (MEDIT, Ibn Haldun University) 

15.00-15.30 Coffee break 

15.30-17.00 Panel 2. Knowledge Integration and the Future of Islamic Education in Central Eurasia: Qur’anic Methodology, Futures Thinking, and Knowledge Heritage

Chair: Ayaz Asadov (MEDIT, Ibn Haldun University)

Samuel Avarskiy (Institute of Knowledge Integration; Business Trainer and Islamic Coach, Russia), Quranic Methodology and the Prospects for Knowledge Integration in the Age of Globalization and Economic Inequality

Otabek Pulatov (Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers National Research University, Uzbekistan), The Epistemology of Craft: ‘Ilm, Religious Authority, and Knowledge Transmission in Central Asian Craft Risalas

Yelena Muzykina (The Centre for Postnormal Policy Futures Studies, Kazakhstan), Imagining Islamic Education: Futures Studies as a Methodological Framework

17.00-18.30 Walking Tour – Süleymaniye Complex 

Day 2 (October 25, 2026)

 

9.15-10.45 Panel 3. Spirituality, Well-Being, and Youth Resilience in a Globalized World

Chair: Filius Iakhin (Institute of Knowledge Integration)

Fatmir Shehu (Institute of Knowledge Integration; IIUM, Malaysia), The Qur’anic Concept of Nafs al-Muṭma’innah [Soul in (complete) rest and satisfaction] and Its Ethical Relevance in the Globalized Era

Shoirakhon Nurdinova (Central Asia Program of the George Washington University, USA), Does Religion Make People Happier? Insights from Uzbekistan

Bukuri Zejno (Institute of Knowledge Integration), Engaging Fundamental Islamic Principles to Respond to Contemporary Challenges Faced by Muslim Youth

10.45-11.00 Coffee break 

11.00-12.30 Panel 4. Islamic Spiritual Care and Psychology: Ethical Frameworks, Therapeutic Integration, and the Use of Classical Texts

Chair: Burcu Uysal (Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Ibn Haldun University) 

Nazila Isgandarova (Associate Professor, Director of Psychospiritual Therapy & Care Practicum Program, Emmanuel College of Victoria University, University of Toronto, Canada), Beyond Passive Mindfulness: The Reciprocal Ethics of Muraqabah in Contemporary Islamic Spiritual Care and Psychotherapy

Filius F. Iakhin (Institute of Knowledge Integration), Core Emotional Needs in Schema Therapy and the Quranic Understanding of Human Needs: Towards an Integrative Framework for AYAH-Therapy

Zeynep İrem Çeven (Istanbul University, Türkiye), Between Integration and Isolation: Islamic Scholarly Concerns About the Psychological Use of Classical Texts

12.30- 14.00 Lunch Break

14.00-15.30 Panel 5. Muslim Communities and al-Maslaha al-Amma in Central-Eastern Europe

Chair: Oleg Yarosh (Institute of Knowledge Integration; Friedrich-Alexander-University in Erlangen, Germany)

Marek Moroń (Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland), Characteristics of Maslaha in the 600-year History of Muslims in Polish Lands and Future Options

Mariusz Marszewski (Center for Eastern Studies (OSW) and Adam Mickiewicz University (UAM), Poland), The Islamic Foundation for Education and Integration in Poland (MFEI) – as an Example of a New Type of Muslim Organization in Poland and its Relations with the State

Egdūnas Račius (Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania), Through Inclusion to Belonging: Lithuania’s Muslim collectives’ Partaking in al-Maslaha al-Amma

15.30-16.00 Coffee break 

16.00-17.30 Panel 6: Jadidism across Central Eurasia: Intellectual Genealogies, Transregional Encounters, and Modern Identity

Chair: Mustafa Tuna (Duke University, US)

Shahnoza Madaeva (National University of Uzbekistan), The Syncretism of Religion and Nation in the Doctrine of Turkestan Jadids and Its Transformation into Modern Uzbek Identity

Enes Ozcan (Institute of Knowledge Integration; MEDIT), A Paradigm Shift in Islamic Political Thought: The Epistemological Lineage from İbrahim Müteferrika’s Ameli Hikmet to the Eurasian Jadid Movement

Zafar Najmiddinov (Institute for Advanced Training of Imams Namangan, Uzbekistan), Muslims of the Middle East through the Eyes of a Central Asian Jadid

Day 3 (October 26, 2026)

 

9.30-10.30 Panel 7. Reframing Islamic Concepts in Contemporary Contexts: Territory, Migration, and Spiritual Belonging

Chair: Ercüment Asil (Director, MEDIT, Ibn Haldun University)

Renat Bekkin (Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences), Theological Interpretations of the Concepts of “Jihad,” “Dar al-Islam,” “Dar al-Harb,” and Related Terms by Muslim Religious Leaders in Contemporary Russia in the First Half of the 2020s

Adilia Iulgusheva (University of Granada), Understanding “Ghurba”: From Social Migration to Metaphysical Wayfaring in the Contemporary Muslim Experience

10.30-11.00 Coffee break 

11.00-12.30 Panel 8. Economic Well-Being, Moral Imaginaries, and Muslim Lived Experiences in Central Asia

Chair: Yaşar Sarı (Director of Haydar Aliyev Center for Eurasian Studies, Ibn Haldun University)

Sharofiddin Ashurov (Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IIiBF), International Islamic University Malaysia), Islamic Banking and Multidimensional Economic Well-Being in Central Asia: A Comparative Framework for Selected Countries

Przemyslaw Ozierski (OSCE Academy in Bishkek; Central Asia Strategic Center for Analysis, Dialogue and Development, Kyrgyzstan), Fear of Missing Out and the Good Life: Rizq, FOMO Scams, and Moral Imaginaries in Central Asian Muslim Societies

Makpal Davletyarova (Abai Myrzakhmetov Kokshetau University, Kazakhstan), Between Media Representation and Self-Identification: Muslim Women’s Lived Experiences in Kazakhstan

12.30-14.00 Lunch Break

14.00-15.30 Panel 9. Negotiating Modernity, Integration, and Diaspora Institution-Building across Eurasia

Chair: Yelena Muzykina (The Centre for Postnormal Policy Futures Studies, Kazakhstan)

Esra Polat (Independent Researcher, Türkiye), Negotiating Modernity in Muslim Societies: The Turkish Experience

Seifulla Rashydov (Ismail State University of Humanities, Ukraine) & Oleg Yarosh (Lecturer, IKI; Friedrich-Alexander-University in Erlangen, Germany), Institutionalization of the North Caucasian Diaspora in Ukraine since 1991

Guzal Najmidinova (Bahauddin Naqshband Scientific Research Center, Bukhara State University, Uzbekistan), Contemporary Trends in the Cultural Integration of Turkic Peoples in Central Asia

15.30-16.45 Special Session: IKI Research and Publication Activities—From Forum Papers to an Edited Volume

Elmira Akhmetova (Director of Research and Grants, IKI), Ayaz Asadov (MEDIT, Ibn Haldun University)

Closing Session: Forum Reflections, Future Directions, and Certificate Presentation

17.00 Visit to Süleymaniye Library of Manuscripts (for participants only)

October 27, 2026

Departure of participants