Central Asia: the forgotten heart of Islamic civilisation? MEMO in Conversation with Iskandar Ding Middle East Monitor Conversations

Is Persian the bridge language of ancient Muslim societies? And are Central Asian countries seeing a revival of this ancient heritage? When we think of the great cities of Islamic history, we tend to think of Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, Isfahan and Istanbul. But for much of history Samarkand, Herat, Kashgar and Bukhara, to name a few, were at the epicentre of Muslim history. The modernisation of the region, Russian colonisation and later Soviet rule severed the historical connections betwe...