On May 29, Dr. Matthew Kuiper departed Springfield for Tashkent, Uzbekistan, a land rich in Islamic history. He stayed with family in Uzbekistan for two weeks. Dr. Kuiper visited a mosque and madrasa in Tashkent that house an 8th or 9th century Qur’an codex (the so-called ‘Uthman Qur’an or Samarkand Codex). He also visited the tomb of the famous canonical 9th-century hadith compiler al-Bukhari. Though research was not the primary focus of his time in Uzbekistan, he took full advantage of this opportunity to review and deepen his knowledge of Central Asian history and of Islam in Central Asia. It’s a fascinating place!
On June 11, Dr. Kuiper flew from Uzbekistan to India. In Bangalore he gave a lecture on his research on da’wa and gave away a few copies of his book. In Delhi he plans to meet with an Indian scholar friend who studies Islam in India. His friend helped with dissertation research back in 2014. He will round out his time in Dehradun, visiting the seminary he formerly taught at, and several historical sites along the way. As he travels, he is working on preparations for my new fall class at MSU, Muslims and Christians.