Islam polski
Polish Islam

Summary/Abstract: Tatar regiments participated in many Polish military campaigns, from the Battle of Grunwald to the September Campaign in 1939. Sometimes they even fought on the Polish side against their own kinsmen invading Poland, Tatars and Turks. Since they would receive land in recognition of their military service, many of them assimilated into the ranks of the nobility. Living in a Christian milieu for 600 years, mainly in the Eastern Borderlands, they preserved their Islamic faith and incorporated into it many Christian beliefs and ceremonies. Tatars used to have there 15 religious communes, of which only two remain today: in Kruszyniany and Bohoniki. They still burry their dead there, even those from other parts of Poland. Evicted from their homeland, they settled in towns and villages gained by Poland after the World War II. There are around 5000 Tatars in Poland today, living in harmony with their Christian neighbours.

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