Islam in Central Asia

Islam arose in Arabia in the early 7th century; according to Muslim belief the Qur’an was revealed by God to the Prophet Muhammad (c. 570–632). After Muhammad’s death four caliphs led the Muslim community – Abu Bakr (632–634), Umar ibn al-Khattab (634–644), Uthman ibn Affan (644–656) and Ali ibn Abi Talib (656–661); this period is called the “Rashidun” (“Rightly Guided Caliphs”). In the 7th century Arab armies reached Khurasan, and in the early 8th century (the campaigns of Qutayba ibn Muslim, 705–715) Transoxiana, the land between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, was incorporated into the Arab caliphate. The conversion of the population was a long process: researchers consider that by the 9th–10th centuries, especially under the Samanids, Islam had become the main religion of the local population. In the territory of Uzbekistan Sunnism, and in particular the Hanafi school, became widespread. For Muslims the Qur’an is the main sacred source and hadith – the collection of sayings and actions attributed to the Prophet Muhammad – is the second source after it. According to tradition the Qur’an was gathered in written sheets under Abu Bakr and, under Uthman, was produced as a book on the basis of a single text, with copies sent to the regions. From Central Asia came hadith scholars such as Imam al-Bukhari (810–870, “al-Jami’ al-Sahih”), al-Tirmidhi and al-Darimi. In the years of independence Qur’an and hadith works were published in Uzbek; one Uzbek translation of the Qur’an, by Alouddin Mansur, appeared in a journal in 1990–1992 and as a separate book in 1992.