Ukrainian Islamic Specialists Unite
Kyiv – Presentation of the Ukrainian Centre for Islamic Studies, new all-Ukrainian civic organization, took place in Kyiv on 20 January 2005. Many famous Ukrainian scholars specializing in Islam and the history and culture of the Middle East joined the organization. Dr. Mykola Kiriushko, a well-known scholar of Islamic relifgion, heads the organization. One of the centre’s priorities is to spread accurate information about Islam.
According to the press release of the organization, the Ukrainian Centre for Islamic Studies is the first union of scholars of Islam which was created in Ukraine. The centre already has 15 local departments and unites the efforts of many Ukrainian scholars of Islam from different parts of the country.
The centre’s main objective is to satisfy and protect the legal creative, educational, professional, spiritual, cultural, social, civic and other common interests of the centre’s members, to help to conduct academic projects and members’ programms connected with Islamic studies and to publish their results, to overcome phenomena in Ukrainian society which stand in the way of peace, harmony and stability, interreligious dialogue, and raising Ukraine’s authority in the international field. One of the centre’s first practical tasks is to publish a collective monograph “Islam in Ukraine.”
Famous Ukrainian politicians, state and civic activists, and representatives of Christian churches were also present at the meeting, including national deputies Refat Chubarov, Les' Taniuk, and Borys Oliinyk; Viktor Bondarenko, head of Ukraine’s National Committee on Religious Matters; and theologian Dr. Dmytro Stepovyk.
After the presentation of the Ukrainian Center for Islamic Studies was conducted an award ceremony for young Ukrainian scholars who participated in the First All-Ukrainian Ahatanhel Krymskyi Islamic Research Contest "Islam and Ukraine". Thirty-six young scholars participated in the scholarly competition.
Risu.org.ua
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