This weekend I'm flying to Poland to meet a group of Americans who are visiting their ancestral homelands for the first time. They are among the oldest Muslim communities in Europe. Some background: rferl.org/a/lipka-tatar-…
It'll be incredible: A reunion generations in the making, as these folks grapple with Europe's and the US' shift to far right Christian nationalism, amid a post-Soviet pan-Tatar cultural/religious renaissance in Eurasia, set to 600 years of Baltic-Islamic cultural syncretism
It’s been six hours and it’s already bumpin
Day 1: Warsaw city tour, then a small group splinters off to find Warsaw's tiny Islamic cemetery. They recognized lots of Polish Muslim family names: Safarowitz, Miskiewicz, Rotkewitz, Assanowicz... 
Day 2: Caught the train to Bialytsok, and met the Mufti of Poland and other Polish Muslims to celebrate the Islamic New Year. Here, Aisha Ratkewtich of New York listens to those prayers in Bialystok's mosque:
I feel so honored and lucky to be documenting their journey through Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus, the ancestral lands of one of North America's oldest Muslim communities. "I feel like this is a family reunion with people I've never met."
Also can we talk about how "Polish Islam" is a thing more people should know about
More meetings of Polish-American/Polish Muslims, today in the village of Bohoniki. "I'm quite happy people are coming [back to Poland], and that they know and are building their souls."
Also a visit to the provincial museum for a private exhibition of Polish Muslim/Tatar artifacts:
Here, Fay Shutsky (of the US) and Mrs. Bogdanowicz (of Poland) share the Islamic crescent moons they both wear around their necks. Day 4.
And don't think I'm forgetting to enjoy myself on this trip, either. Here ya boy is learning to make kołduny
Today we cooked, we sang, they danced while I took pictures. The Polish-American mosque visits the village of Kruszyniany.
The group also had its first family reunion, unexpectedly, when brother and sister Jack and Arlene (of Massachusetts) stumbled across this man, an imam from a nearby village. Their grandmothers were sisters. Arlene walks away and says, "well that was weird."
Re-upping a previous tweet about how "Polish Islam" should be a thing more people know about because damn is it beautiful
Signing off for tonight. Tomorrow the group is off to Lithuania. Enjoy this photo of dumplings.
Today, the group from the American mosque stopped inside a brand new Islamic center in the town of Suchowola. Inside, dozens of old pictures
Notable that the mosque & cemetery in Warsaw had a plaque indicating financial support from the Turkish govt. Have seen in BiH and Macedonia
Hello from Lithuania, where our group visited a 19th century mosque in the countryside. Powerful reunions coming soon. Stay tuned.
The Raižiai mosque is beautiful. One of just four mosques left in Lithuania (more planned, similar to Poland). Plus, the NY group found a family tree hanging on the wall. Turns out, someone's uncle once lived in the house out back.
And if you're wondering about geography, these folks' ancestors settled here when it was one country. It was all Russia by the time some came to the US, then Poland. Post-WWII it's the land split between Poland/Belarus/Lithuania. Draw a Bialystok-Minsk-Kanuas triangle
One of many Muslim/Tatar cemeteries in Lithuania:
Today in Lithuania, reunions between American and Lithuanian Muslims, and prayers over their ancestors' graves. An incredibly moving day.
Bob Shabanowitz (of the US) had the name of the woman his mother wrote to for years, her first cousin Felicija. She was born in the US, but when the rest of the family left for NY in the 30s, she was sent to Siberia. Turns out, she's still alive. Bob met her and her family today.
Aisha (of NY) knew her father came from Lithuania. When the group showed up to tour a cemetery today, two old women were there waiting for us. They were looking for Aisha. Then they took her to her grandmother's grave.
Marion (of NY) is the granddaughter of a Lithuanian imam in Brooklyn. When he died, she gave his Qurans to her siblings and cousins, and kept one for herself. There was one left. She brought it to Lithuania and left it with the community here. It's a century old.
Every day, this trip gets more emotionally intense. Everyone is feeling like it's building to a crescendo in Belarus, where most of these folks know they have first cousins they've never met. We fly to Minsk tomorrow.
The beautiful countryside mosques don't stop, either
These people, yall.
I take that last tweet back
Yall, check back on this thread in a couple hours for one of the most moving moments yet.
Today, Arlene and Jack (of Massachusetts) were walking through a cemetery when, unexpectedly, they found their uncle and grandmother's graves. Their father, an immigrant from Belarus, "couldn't ever talk about them without crying," Arlene told me. (cont)
Later, the group was visiting a village mosque for prayers when someone suddenly calls Arlene's name — a woman had brought an envelope of pictures to the mosque. She recognized Arlene from a 40yo wedding photo.
That woman is Aisha. She had that photo because Arlene/Jack's dad sent it to her's; they were brothers, separated as children after their mother was killed by a bomb during the Russian Civil War. Arlene/Jack didn't know they had cousins in Belarus, but Aisha knew of them
Before I start crying (again), did you know Belarus is home to more of this ethnic group (Lipka Tatars) than Poland or Lithuania combined? (I'm not crying you are)
This might be one of the best things I've done my whole life
Signing off for the night. Here are some Muslim babushkas to get you through this emotional Twitter experience. By the way, tomorrow may be just as, if not more intense.
Yall...Belarus’ mosques don’t mess around
Today, the group visited Iÿe, where many of their grand/parents came from. A man took a microphone and started calling our the Americans' names. People would cheer, rush them when they recognized a name. Here, Marion Sedorowitz becomes verklempt as she is embraced by relatives.
Steve (NY) found a first cousin — the last one living on that side of the family. Here they are visiting a relative's grave.
It was an emotional day. "I never knew my grandmothers, so when I saw her, all I could think was that maybe they were like her."
Still can't get over the wooden mosques, either. Here's the imam in Navahrudak.
The monument in the central square of Iÿe, Belarus, which honors each of the four religions—Orthodox Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Islam, Judaism—that call the town home.
Signing off for the night, from Belarus. What a day. Our trip is coming to a close tomorrow. I'll never forget the warmth of the people I (and the other Americans) have met here.
Today I talked about the USSR, religious renaissance, the future of the Lipka Tatars, etc with Abu Bekir Shabanowitz, the Mufti of Belarus
Also, today Arlene and Jack found out they're related to the Mufti of Belarus, because he also brought his family photo album to show, and they recognized photos taken in their childhood living room.
After Belarus became independent, the Saudis and Turks offered to build a mosque in Minsk (Soviets destroyed the old one). Mufti: "We had to chose between Arab or Turk, and we chose Tatar." They designed the mosque based on pictures of the old one, but 5x bigger. It opened in '16
The American group starts the trip home today. Being this immersed in their journey has been an incredible, humbling experience. Thanks for following. More to read on all this, eventually.
The Polish-American mosque’s “blue book,” printed in 1947 and still distributed to new members.
You're in your 60s. Imagine going on a trip to your parents' village with zero expectations & little interest, then you see a man in the street holding a portrait of your grandparents. Turns out, he's your cousin, and he's been waiting for you
I can't wait for yall to read this.
I can't wait for yall to read this.
Imagine: It's WWII. Your town has been taken by the Nazis. You hear that the centuries-old mosque is going to be burned down. What do you grab off the wall? This ledger, listing the 100+ American families who donated to renovate the mosque in 1922. Belarusian, in Arabic letters.
Also, somewhere in that list, is the name "Wilson" written in Belarusian-Arabic, and I find that endlessly fascinating.
