Islam in Poland

Although Muslims were involved in earlier Mongol invasions of Poland in the 13th century, these had a purely military character and there are no traces of settlement or conversion of any parts of the Polish population.

The Tatars who settled in Lithuania, Ruthenia and modern-day eastern Poland were allowed to preserve their Islam religion in exchange for military service.

Numerous royal privileges, as well as internal autonomy granted by the monarchs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, allowed the Tatars to preserve their religion, traditions and culture throughout the ages.

Apart from religious freedom, the Tatars were allowed to marry Polish and Ruthenian women of Catholic or Orthodox faith, uncommon in Europe of that time.

The "Deluge" and the ensuing period of constant wars made the szlachta of central Poland associate the Muslim Lipkas with the invading forces of the Ottoman Empire.

[7] Although King John Casimir of Poland tried to limit the restrictions on their religious freedoms and the erosion of their ancient rights and privileges, the gentry opposed.

Although after the treaty of Buczacz the Tatars were granted lands around the fortresses of Bar and Kamieniec Podolski, the liberties enjoyed by their community within the Ottoman Empire were much less than those within the Commonwealth.

[8] The Lipka Rebellion forms the background to the novel Fire in the Steppe (Pan Wołodyjowski), the final volume of the Nobel Prize-winning historical Trylogia of Henryk Sienkiewicz.

The 1969 film adaptation Colonel Wolodyjowski, directed by Jerzy Hoffman and starring Daniel Olbrychski as Azja Tuhaj-bejowicz, was one of the largest box-office success in the history of Polish cinema.

For instance, the women in Lipka Tatar society traditionally had the same rights as men, were granted equal status and could attend common non-segregated schools.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Lipka Tatars had become so integrated into Polish society that they joined their Roman Catholic brethren in the mass migrations for the United States that gave rise to American Polonia, even founding their own mosque in Brooklyn, New York, which is still in use today.

[11] With the restoration of Polish independence, the Tatar community of Poland numbered around 6,000 people (according to the 1931 national census), mostly inhabiting the regions of Wilno, Nowogródek and Białystok Voivodeships.

[14] In recent years, increasing oppressions from Alexander Lukashenko's authoritarian Government in Belarus and economic hardships prompts a larger number of Lipka Tatars to come to Poland.

The Polish Shia minority includes foreign students, migrants, and embassy staff, mainly from countries such as Iraq, Iran, Bahrain, Lebanon, along with native converts to Islam.

The exact number of Muslims living in Poland remains unknown as the last all-national census held by the Central Statistical Office in 2011 did not ask for religion.

[16] Despite the fact that Muslims in Poland constitute less than 0.1% of the total population, stereotypes, verbal, violent, and physical displays of anti-Islam are widespread and, mostly, socially acceptable.