Grand Mufti of the Polish Muslims Jakub Szynkiewicz (1884-1966) and his Connections with the Karaites

Abstract

Jakub Szynkiewicz lived in a very difficult time and had to make decisions that were oftentimes crucial and motives and effects of which cannot be judged easily. During the Second World War, he was surely faced with hopeless situations when he was responsible for not only himself and his whole family but also the Muslim community the care of which was entrusted to him. For Karaitologists, his relations with the Karaite community are of significance not only during the interwar period but also during the turbulent years of the Second World War. The p eriod between World War I and World War II should be considered as the most important one in his life. Between 1926-1939, Jakub Szynkiewicz, as the Mufti of the Republic of Poland, was the spiritual leader of 19 Muslim communities congregating approx. 6 thousand of the faithful. Thanks to his personal efforts, the Mosque Building Committee in Warsaw was created (1928), the bill on the relationship between the state and the Muslim Religious Association in Poland and its statute were passed (1936), and the First Muslim Congress in Poland was organized (1938). At the same time, he conducted his scientific research, too. It resulted in numerous publications in Polish that popularized knowledge on reach Muslim history and culture in Poland and in the world. He was also very active in the international arena, visiting Muslim communities in Bulgaria, Egypt, Yugoslavia, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey. During those journeys, he tried, among others, to raise funds for the construction of a mosque in Warsaw. His ambitious plans for the development of the Muslim community in Poland were entirely shattered with the outbreak of WWII.