Islamic Organizations in Poland: From Monopoly to Pluralism

Islam has been present on the territory of the modern-day Poland for over 330 years, which makes it one of the traditional, officially recognized religions, even though the number of Muslims in Poland is not large. At present, the estimated number of Muslims in Poland is 15,000–30,000, which amounts to 0.04-0.08 per cent of the total population (Nalborczyk and Grodź, 2012, p. 456). Tatars, traditional Polish Muslims (numbering ca. 4,000–5,000), no longer constitute the majority in this group as was the case before the 1980s. The immigrant Muslim minority in Poland consists of Arabs, Turks, Bosnians, and Chechens. The majority of them are not migrant workers, but former students and their families, businessmen, and refugees.1