
A continuous presence of
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
in
Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
began in the 14th century. From this time it was primarily associated with the
Lipka Tatars, many of whom settled in the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
while continuing their traditions and religious beliefs. With the advent of the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, many Muslims left Belarus for other countries, particularly
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. Presently, the Belarusian Muslim community consists of remaining Lipka Tatars, as well as recent immigrants from the Middle East. As of 2007, there were 45,000 Muslims in Belarus, representing 0.5% of the total population.
History
The history of Islam in Belarus began in the 14th century, as the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...
invited Tatars from the
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde, self-designated as ''Ulug Ulus'' ( in Turkic) was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of ...
to assist with the protection of their borders. The Tatars, however, soon settled in Lithuania, as well as in neighbouring Poland, and by the end of the 16th century, an estimated 100,000 Tatars lived in the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
, including the descendants of border guards, voluntary immigrants, and prisoners of war. From this group came the
Lipka Tatars. In the early 19th century, several Tatars fled to the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
amidst rumours of forced baptisms of Muslims.
20th century
Russian Civil War and interwar period
During the
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
and the
Polish–Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution.
After the collapse ...
, Muslim leaders protected Jews from pogroms; the
mullah
Mullah () is an honorific title for Islam, Muslim clergy and mosque Imam, leaders. The term is widely used in Iran and Afghanistan and is also used for a person who has higher education in Islamic theology and Sharia, sharia law.
The title h ...
of
Uzda hid the local Jewish population in his cellar, and helped Jews flee westwards by disguising them as Muslims. In the
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a Republics of the Soviet Union, republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 19 ...
, Islam was a target of religious persecution; in 1935, closures of mosques began, the mullah of Uzda was deported to Siberia, and the mullah and
muezzin
The muezzin (; ), also spelled mu'azzin, is the person who proclaims the call to the daily prayer ( ṣalāt) five times a day ( Fajr prayer, Zuhr prayer, Asr prayer, Maghrib prayer and Isha prayer) at a mosque from the minaret. The muezzin ...
of
Smilavichy were executed.
World War II
During the
Eastern Front of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
,
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
sought to express itself as a protector of Islam, and there were attempts to win over the Belarusian Muslim community. In 1942, during the
German occupation of Byelorussia, the Minsk Mosque, which had been closed in 1936 and used as a
food bank
A food bank or food pantry is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distrib ...
, was reopened. The 1st Eastern Muslim SS Regiment also fought
Belarusian partisans in
Minsk Region until being merged into the
SS-Sonderregiment Dirlewanger.
Post-World War II
From 1944 to 1946, many Lipka Tatar religious leaders, fearing renewed religious persecution, fled Belarus for Poland. This complicated the work of the
Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults of the Soviet Union. The community of
Iwye, in
Grodno Region, became the largest recognised religious community in Belarus. In the 1950s, the Iwye Muslims continued celebrating
Eid al-Adha and did not work on Fridays. After the dissolution of the
Kletsk
Klyetsk or Kletsk is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Klyetsk District. Klyetsk is located on the Lan (river), Lan River. As of 2025, it has a population of 11,169.
History
The town was founded in the ...
Islamic community in 1960, Iwye was the only remaining Islamic community in Belarus, though private practice of Islam continued.
Since 1991
In 1994, the
First All-Belarusian Congress of Muslims was held. As a result, the
Muslim Religious Community of the Republic of Belarus was founded. From its foundation until 2005, the Muslim Religious Community of the Republic of Belarus was headed by
Ismail Alieksandrovič. Since 2005, it has been led by Abu-Biekir Šabanovič.
In 2007, the
Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya, officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ), is an Islamic messianic movement originating in British India in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed a ...
Muslims were banned from practising their faith openly, and given a similar status to other banned religious groups in the country. Unable to obtain state registration, Ahmadi Muslims in the country, who number about 30, including 13 native Belarusians, cannot conduct their activities formally as a group, such as importing or distributing literature, gathering together for prayers or meetings, and having an official representative.
Belarus is the only country in Europe to have jailed a newspaper editor for publishing the
Danish cartoons of the
Islamic prophet
Prophets in Islam () are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers (; sing. , ), those who transmit divine revelation, mos ...
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
. On 18 January 2008,
Alexander Sdvizhkov was jailed for three years for 'incitement of religious hatred'.
Present situation
Today, there are 7 mosques in Belarus: Smilavichy, Iwye,
Slonim, and
Navahrudak in the
Grodno Region, Minsk and Kletsk in the Minsk Region, and
Vidzy in the
Vitebsk Region. From 1900 to 1902, a mosque was constructed in
Minsk
Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...
, but it was destroyed in 1962. On 11 November 2016, a replica of the mosque was opened in Minsk. There are 30 religious organisations officially registered, and 25 religious communities, of which 24 are
Sunni
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
and one is
Shia. Most Belarusian Muslims are Sunni, of the
Hanafi
The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and largest Madhhab, school of Islamic jurisprudence out of the four schools within Sunni Islam. It developed from the teachings of the Faqīh, jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (), who systemised the ...
school.
Lipka Tatars no longer speak their native language, and primarily switched to
Belarusian,
Russian, and
Polish. However, for the purposes of religious practices,
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
is used. Historically, the
Belarusian Arabic alphabet
The Belarusian Arabic alphabet or the Belarusian Arabica was based on the Persian alphabet, Perso-Arabic script and was developed in the 15th or 16th century. It consisted of 28 graphemes, including several additions to represent Belarusian langu ...
was developed by Muslims to write the Belarusian language in the
Arabic script
The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic (Arabic alphabet) and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (after the Latin script), the second-most widel ...
, then commonly used by Tatars, as they abandoned their own
Tatar language
Tatar ( ; or ) is a Turkic languages, Turkic language spoken by the Volga Tatars mainly located in modern Tatarstan (European Russia), as well as Siberia. It should not be confused with Crimean Tatar language, Crimean Tatar or Siberian Tatar ...
for Belarusian. However, the Belarusian Arabic alphabet has fallen out of use in the modern age.
Gallery
File:Tatar Cemetery Mir Belarus 1.JPG, Tatar cemetery in Belarus.
File:Iŭje, miačet. Агульны выгляд.jpg, Mosque in Iwye
File:Smilavichy mosque.jpg, Mosque in Smilavichy
File:Miensk, Tatarski. Менск, Татарскі (1901-17).jpg, Mosque in Minsk (destroyed in 1962)
File:New Minsk mosque p03.jpg, Mosque in Minsk (built in 2016)
See also
*
Religion in Belarus
*
Freedom of religion in Belarus
References
External links
Muslim Spiritual Board in the Republic of Belarus Republican Religious Association (News)Muslim Spiritual Board in the Republic of Belarus Republican Religious Association
Belarusian Cathedral Mosque site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belarus
Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
Islam in the Soviet Union