University History

Kyrgyzstan Islamic University is a higher educational institution under the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kyrgyzstan, where Islamic values and Sharia principles are taught on an academic basis. In the early 1990s, the head of Kyrgyzstan's religious administration, Kimsanbay Azhy Abdrakhmanov, proposed opening an Islamic madrasa in Bishkek. As a result, at the beginning of 1991, the Islamic madrasa named after Hazreti Umar was opened in Bishkek.

The madrasa, which followed the right path of development, quickly evolved and in 1993 became the Islamic Institute named after Hazreti Umar under the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kyrgyzstan. Having earned considerable authority among the Muslim community of the country, the institute received university status by the decision of the Second Congress of Muslims of Kyrgyzstan and the Council of Ulema on April 25, 2003, and was renamed Kyrgyzstan Islamic University. While the madrasa had only 4 teachers, by the institute period, in 1998, it already had 25 teachers and more than 280 students. Today, the university employs 72 teachers, and more than 1,000 students from different regions of the country and from abroad study there. The teaching staff currently includes doctors of science and professors. In 2017, the university received a license from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic for the Theology program, and in 2018 for the Arabic Philology program. At present, under the Faculty of Humanities Education, the departments of Theology, Natural and Humanitarian Disciplines, and Arabic Philology operate in accordance with state standards. In addition, the Sharia Department, the Bishkek Quran Course, and the Osh Quran Center train religious specialists who follow the authentic and moderate tradition inherited from our ancestors. As the flagship among religious educational institutions in Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan Islamic University continues to prepare highly educated professionals and qualified specialists for the Islamic sphere. Graduates of the university successfully work in all areas of religious service, as well as in higher education institutions and embassies, carry out spiritual outreach, and contribute to the development of the state.