Islam within the religious space in Belarus: centuries-old history and modern tendencies
Islam w przestrzeni religijnej na Białorusi: wielowiekowa historia i współczesne tendencje

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to the history of Islamic communities in Belarus, their communication with the Christians, features of the modern revival of religious life.Tatar-Muslims moved to the Byelorussian territory in the 14th century. Crimean Tatars, as well as Tatars from the Volga regions migrated to the Byelorussian territory. They were Muslims - Sunnites of the Hanafi madhhab. The legal status of Tatars was limited because the state religion in Grand Duchy of Lithuania was Christianity. The most ancient mosques till now are in villages of Nekrashuntsy near Lida (1415), Lovchitsy under Novogrudok (1420). The hand-written heritage of Byelorussian Tatar-Muslims includes 41 manuscripts along with fragments from the end of the 18th and the first half of the 20th century.The revival of religious life of the Muslims began in Belarus in the 90s of the 20th century. Tatar-Muslim capital in Belarus is Ivie (Grodno region). The Byelorussian Muslim religious associations, the Public association of the Tatars „Zikr ul'-Kitab" plays the key role in the religious revival. Quantitative data and features of modern religious life are described in this article. One of the most acute problems of the Muslim religious association is the problem of religious education of the youth, formation of their religious identity.

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