The Muslim Community in Poland Today

meczet_przy_ul._wiertniczej_103_w_warszawie_2017.jpg, default, The Muslim Community in Poland Today, Mosque at 103 Wiertnicza Street in Warsaw, photo: Adrian Grycuk / Wikimedia.org, center, #000000

#heritage

Poland is home to different ethnic and religious minorities, all of whom are an important part of its history and current social make-up. Here is a closer look at the status of the Muslim community of Poland today.

A brief history

Picture display

standardowy [760 px]

Polish Tatars Michał & Venera at their wedding ceremony in a mosque in Bohoniki, photo: Agnieszka Sadowska / AG

Picture image

slub_tatarski_ag.jpg

Since at least the 14th century, there has always been a Muslim community in Poland. Albeit small, as they make up less than 0.1% of the Polish population, this community has a very long history here.

Islam was first associated with the Lipka Tatars, who settled in the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but in modern day eastern Poland. Back then, they were allowed to practice their religion in exchange for military service.

By the 17th century, more and more Tatars were coming to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, until there were approximately 15,000 of them total. In the Commonwealth, the Tatars had been allowed to maintain their religion and culture, marry Polish or Ruthenian women, and join reputable military clans.

By the 20th century, the Tatar community numbered 6,000 people, as the changing borders left many outside Polish territory. Still, they formed cultural centres, archives, and endeavoured to preserve their faith and culture.

World War II saw the destruction and death of many in this community, as they were persecuted and killed alongside much of the civilian population in Poland. After the war, much of the land where Tartars lived was annexed by the Soviet Union – but Poland still has a Tatar and Muslim community.

By the numbers

Picture display

standardowy [760 px]

Mosque, Ośrodek Kultury Muzułmańskiej (Muslim Culture Centre), Warsaw, photo: Piotr Molecki / East News

Picture image

meczet_warszawa_en.jpg

According to the 2002 census, only 447 people declared Tatar nationality. In the 2011 census, however, there were 1,916 Tatars counted, including 1,251 who claimed a combination of Tatar and Polish identity. Today, in 2021, these numbers may have grown even more, as oppression and economic hardship in Belarus has led more Lipka Tatars to come to Poland.

Separate from the Tatar communities, there is also a small, immigrant Muslim community in Poland that dates back to the 1970s. In that decade and the next, many students from socialist-friendly Arabic-speaking states in the Middle East and North Africa came to Poland to study. Many ended up staying, and by the 1980s, the Muslim community was very active and becoming organised, including the building of mosques and prayer houses around the country.

After the end of the communist regime in Poland in 1989, more Muslim immigrants joined Polish society. The most prominent group included Turks and other ethnic-Slavic Muslims from former Yugoslavia. Other, smaller groups are from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Chechnya.

All of the mentioned groups, including the Tatars, are Sunni Muslims. The Shia community in Poland is limited to foreign students, migrants, and embassy staff who are mainly from Iraq, Bahrain, and Lebanon. The Shi’ites do not currently have their own free-standing mosque, but they still meet for weekly prayer and holidays.

Unfortunately, it is hard to grasp exactly how large or small all of these groups are. The exact number of Muslims in Poland is unknown, as the last all-national census in 2011 did not ask about religion.

Relations within the community

Picture display

standardowy [760 px]

Eighth edition of the Tatar Culture Festival organised by the Union of Tatars of the Republic of Poland in the Podlasie Museum of Folk Culture, pictured: Bunczuk Tatar Dance and Vocal Ensemble, photo: Forum

Picture image

tatarzy_forum.jpg

Currently, there is an ongoing conflict between differing groups of Sunni Muslims in Poland. One group, the Lipka Tatars, has been living in Poland for approximately 600 years. The other group represents the mainly foreign-born and foreign-sponsored Sunni Muslims who follow the Salafi movement.

The Salafi movement is a reform branch movement that advocates for a return to the traditions of the salaf, or ancestors, to better practice their faith. They reject religious innovation and support the implementation of sharia law.

This divide between the Sunni Muslims creates confusion as both sides claim to represent the whole of Poland’s Sunni Muslims. The Lipka Tatars run the Muzułmański Związek Religijny w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (Muslim Religious Union in the Polish Republic), while the foreign Sunni Muslims run the Liga Muzułmańska w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (Muslim League in the Polish Republic). Liga Muzułmańska is also a branch of the worldwide Muslim Brotherhood organisation.

Public attitudes

Although the Muslim community only constitutes 0.1% of Poland’s total population, anti-Islamic sentiments are still quite widespread in the country. According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2016, approximately 4 in 10 of the Polish adults surveyed said they would not want Muslims to be citizens of their country, their neighbours, or members of their family. Yet, only about 12% of those polled had ever actually met a Muslim, which displays how misinformed these opinions can be. The research suggested most of the interactions these Poles had had with Muslims were taking place abroad.

Based on these numbers, Muslims are Poland’s least accepted ethnic and religious group compared with Jewish and Roma people.

Picture display

standardowy [760 px]

Mosque in Gdańsk, photo: Przemek Świderski / Reporter / East News

Picture image

meczet_gdansk_en_.jpg

In the political sphere, many more conservative figures have voiced concerns that welcoming Muslim refugees could harm the country culturally. They argue that, regardless of their refugee status, they could not integrate with Poland’s Catholic majority because of the large cultural differences.

Currently, there are limited numbers of Muslim refugees in or coming to Poland, so this debate mostly revolves around refugees in other countries. However, these debates do keep these fears of Islam alive amongst those more conservative circles.

Mosques

While the number of Muslims remains small in Poland, so do the number of mosques and worship centres. Halal Trip, an advising and planning platform for Muslim travellers, lists only nine sites available in Poland. This includes the Islamic centres in Kraków, Wrocław, Warsaw, Poznań, Białystok, Lublin, and Katowice and mosques in Gdańsk and Warsaw. The sites in Warsaw are stated to be the biggest and most modern compared to the other places around the country.

In Bohoniki in the Podlaskie Voivoedship, there is an ancient, wooden mosque that belongs to the Tatar community in the area.

Picture display

standardowy [760 px]

Mosque in Kruszyniany, photo: Marek Maliszewski / Reporter / East News

Picture image

swiatynie_drewniane_east_news.jpg

Another ancient mosque exists in the village of Kruszyniany in north-eastern Poland. This area has been home to the Lipka Tatars since the 14th century, making this one of Europe’s oldest continuously existing Muslim communities. This wooden building is Poland’s oldest mosque and is still in use by the Tatar community. Records show a mosque on the same site as early as 1717, but the exact age of the building is unknown.

According to Zabytek.pl, a website run by the National Heritage Board of Poland, the mosque was likely originally constructed with funds provided by the Krzeczowskis, one of the wealthiest Tatar families in the region. The family owned the villages of Kruszyniany, Górka and Łużany. During the Second World War, the mosque was seized by the Nazi Germans, who used it as a hospital and eventually stole many valuables there. But after the war, Polish Muslims were able to resume using it.

This mosque has been through a lot over the past decade. In 2008, the mosque was fitted with a security system funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Two years later, Prince Charles of Britain visited the mosque and received a tour of the site. In 2012, the mosque was officially recognised as a historic monument by the Polish government. However in 2014, the mosque was vandalised during Ramadan with graffiti on the walls and graves in the cemetery, which was cleaned up immediately.

In 2020, the office of monument conservation in the Podlasie Province awarded the mosque a grant of 80,000zł to renovate the interior. This work was recently completed and included a new floor in the men’s prayer room, reinforcement of the windows, and support for the mezzanine floor.

The Tatar Cultural Society Foundation, which works to promote the community’s heritage, hailed the renovation work as an ‘extremely important’ measure to ‘take care of a place that is important to our grandparents and parents, our children and grandchildren’.

Halal food

Picture display

standardowy [760 px]

Le-Cedre, a halal Lebanese restaurant in Warsaw, photo: press materials / lecedre.pl

Picture image

le-cedre_warszawa.jpg

Muslims follow a specific diet called 'halal'. Halal is an Arabic word that translates to permissible or lawful – halal is anything that is not forbidden. Forbidden food or drink is called 'haram', or unlawful. These rules were set to protect the follower’s honour and right to stay away from sin. Therefore, Muslims are expected to follow this diet closely. This diet includes refraining from alcoholic drinks and products from pigs, lard, birds of prey, and more.

According to Halalfood.pl, which contains a list of known places in Poland with Halal food, there are 19 restaurants in the country which are suitable for Muslims, 18 of them in Warsaw. They also list six food shops, two foundations and two food suppliers, all in Warsaw.

Even though the Muslim community in Poland is small, it remains an important part of the fabric of Polish history and culture.

^{Written by Claire Brady, Aug 2021}

Language English