Muslims in Poland and Eastern Europe Widening the European Discourse on Islam Muslims in Poland and Eastern Europe Widening the European Discourse on Islam edited by Katarzyna Górak-Sosnowska a University of Warsaw Faculty of Oriental Studies Warszawa 2011 © by Katarzyna Górak­Sosnowska and the Authors © by the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland Reviewers Prof. Halina Rusek Prof. Jolanta Sierakowska­Dyndo Cover design: Wiktor Dyndo Projekt jest współfinansowany przez Ministra Spraw Zagranicznych Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej w ramach cyklicznego programu Promocja wiedzy o Polsce. The project is co­funded by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, within the frames of a cyclic program Promotion of Knowledge about Poland. ISBN 978­83­903229­5­7 Printed and bound: Zakład Graficzny Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00­927 Warszawa Poland (zam. nr 1099/2011). The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Republic of Poland. Table of contents List of charts, pictures and tables ................................................................................. 7 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 9 Katarzyna Górak­Sosnowska, Muslims in Europe: different communities, one discourse? Adding the Central and Eastern European perspective ............ 12 Muslims in Poland Marek M. Dziekan, History and culture of Polish Tatars ............................................ 27 Janusz Danecki, Literature of the Polish Tatars........................................................... 40 Michał Łyszczarz, Generational changes among young Polish Tatars ....................... 53 Halina Grzymała­Moszczyńska, Magdalena Trojanek, Image of the world and themselves built by young Chechens living in Polish refugee centers. Intercultural conflict .............................................................................................. 69 Karolina Łukasiewicz, Strategies of reconstructing Islam in exile. A case of Chechens in Poland................................................................................ 89 Magdalena Nowaczek­Walczak, The world of kebab. Arabs and gastronomy in Warsaw................................................................................................................ 108 Marta Woźniak, Linguistic behavior of Arabophones in Poland .............................. 126 Gaweł Walczak, Muhammad in Warsaw, that is few words about Warsaw’s Somalis......................................................................................... 141 Joanna Krotofil, ‘If I am to be a Muslim, I have to be a good one’. Polish migrant women embracing Islam and reconstructing identity in dialogue with self and others ........................................................................... 154 Konrad Pędziwiatr, “The Established and Newcomers” in Islam in Poland or the inter­group relations within the Polish Muslim community ................. 169 Agata S. Nalborczyk, Mosques in Poland. Past and present...................................... 183 Eugeniusz Sakowicz, Dialogue between the Catholic Church and Islam in Poland ............................................................................................... 194 Muslims in wider Central and Eastern Europe Egdūnas Račius, Islam in Lithuania: revival at the expense of survival?.................... 207 Irina Molodikova, Formation of new Muslim communities in new member states: the case of Hungary .................................................................................. 222 6 Muslims in Poland and Eastern Europe Michal Cenker, From reified mollectivities to multiple Islams: putting Muslim migrants in Slovakia into context.......................................................... 239 Oleg Yarosh, Denys Brylov, Muslim communities and Islamic network institutions in Ukraine: contesting authorities in shaping of Islamic localities................................................................................................. 252 Daniela Stoica, New Romanian Muslimas. Converted women sharing knowledge in online and offline communities ................................................... 266 Kristen Ghodsee, Islam in postsocialist Bulgaria: ethnicity, religious revival and social justice.................................................................................................... 286 Veronika Bajt, The Muslim Other in Slovenia. Intersections of a religious and ethnic minority ........................................................................ 307 Jacek Duda, Islamic community in Serbia – the Sandžak case ................................. 327 Contributors.................................................................................................................. 336 The Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw.............................................. 342 List of charts, pictures and tables List of charts Chart 1: Europeans who would mind having a Muslim (and Roma) neighbor (1999; %)................................................................................................. 19 Chart 2: Changes in the level of religious commitment of the young generation’s representatives.................................................................................. 57 Chart 3: Level of spoken Arabic ................................................................................... 130 Chart 4: Level of written literary Arabic ..................................................................... 130 Chart 5: Level of spoken Polish.................................................................................... 130 Chart 6: Level of written Polish ................................................................................... 130 Chart 7: Ways of learning Polish.................................................................................. 131 Chart 8: Periods of learning Polish.............................................................................. 131 Chart 9: Language difficulties...................................................................................... 131 Chart 10: Usage of languages ........................................................................................ 132 Chart 11: Arabic TV stations .......................................................................................... 133 Chart 12: Arabic and Polish media ............................................................................... 134 Chart 13: Attitude towards Polish language ................................................................ 136 List of pictures Picture 1: Number of Muslims in European countries ............................................... 14 List of tables Table 1: Ethnic structure of Central and East European states.................................. 17 Table 2: Phases of relations between Islam and Europe ............................................ 20 Table 3: Basic characteristics of Chechen informants ................................................ 91 Table 4: Main topics of Polish media news about Somalia........................................ 143 Table 5: Main topics of Polish media news about Somalis living abroad................. 145 Table 6: Main topics of Polish media news about Somalis in Poland....................... 147 Table 7: Changes in the number of asylum applications by main nationality (2009/2010)........................................................................... 228 Table 8: Conversion matrix........................................................................................... 231 Table 9: Main Muslim ethnic groups in Ukraine ........................................................ 254 8 Muslims in Poland and Eastern Europe Table 10: Islamic institutions in Ukraine .................................................................... 254 Table 11: Islamic education in Ukraine........................................................................ 255 Table 12: Official registration of ethno­national affiliation of Muslims in Slovenia (2002) ................................................................................................. 312 Introduction While Islam has been firmly placed on the global agenda since 9/11, and while it continues to occupy a prominent place in media discourse, attention has recently begun to shift towards European Muslims, or – as some would prefer to say – Muslims in Europe. Apart from the usual concerns – mostly articulated in the media – on the radicalization of Muslim youth, their failure to integrate into mainstream society and so forth, a vast body of academic literature on Islam and Muslims in Europe has sprung up since the late 1990s. This discourse and body of literature on Muslims in Europe, however, are confined to the west of the continent, viz. the old EU. This gives the impression that Europe stops at the banks of the Oder. Central and Eastern Europe – both new EU members and other countries – has been placed outside the realm of discourse, i.e. outside Europe. That is why it seems proper to let Central and Eastern Europe have its say. This book aims to fill this gap by describing Muslim communities and their expe­ riences in Central and Eastern Europe, both in countries with marginal Muslim pop­ ulations, often not exceeding 1% (e.g. Hungary and Lithuania), and in countries with significant