Vol. 73 | No. 5 | May 2017 International Journal of Sciences and Research 48 DEVELOPING MUSLIM STUDIES AS A NEW BRANCH OF ISLAMIC STUDIES IN THE 21 ST CENTURY Yelena V. Muzykina Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan, Almaty, е-mail: m_yelena73@mail.ru Abstract: In the 21st century, Islamic Studies are going through the process of reconfiguration of the research space and abandoning the traditional stereotypes inspired by the Orientalism of previous eras. The contemporary Muslim world is no longer confined to the Middle East; that is why the way to Muslim Studies, a new academic discipline, needs to be given. At least two new trends emerged within the last few decades that prompt this re- structuring. Firstly, it is an increase of the Muslim population in the countries of Western Europe and the United States that began in the middle of the previous century. This trend served as an impetus to the development of Muslim Minorities Studies showing that Muslims in the West are a very diverse group with a variety of problems. The second process that reformatted the field and geography of Islamic Studies was the founding of independent states in Central Asia. People there wanted to find a new cornerstone for their identity in the new context. The idea of religious affiliation, when Islam was rendered synonymous with tradition and a marker of national identity, became a new anchor. The paper suggests naming this discipline Post-Soviet Muslim Studies and presents the characteristics and further suggestions for a way forward. Key words: Muslim Studies, Muslims Minorities Studies, Islam in the West, Central Asia, Post-Soviet Muslim Studies. Introduction The 21 st century could be designated as the time when Islamic Studies has developed new research branches focused on the study of Muslims in territories outside the Muslim majority countries. Though the main interest of scholars delving in Islamic Studies is still bound to the Middle East region, thus confining the research units of academic institutions to the Middle East Departments, new trends are growing up. The analysis of Muslim communities within new areas is gaining momentum and makes scholars focus on those challenges that arise along the way. One is about a new definition of religion itself that needs to be stipulated now. Peter Beyer comments “that both the categories of ‘religion’ and ‘religions’ are derived from Christian, or at least Western experience, and are thus unsuitable for understanding the religious aspects of non-Western cultures: constructing the discipline with these concepts amounts, one often hears, to the mistaken or imperialistic imposition of ‘our’ culture on ‘them’”. 1 So, when scholars try to define Islam solely as a 1 Luhmann, N., & Beyer, P. (1984). Religious dogmatics and the evolution of societies. New York: E. Mellen. P. 9. – 190 pages.