ABSTRACT
Muslims (known to the world as “Lithuanian Tatars”) have been and continue to be an integral part of Lithuanian society since at least the fifteenth century (Kryczynski 1938; Kričinskis 1993), though their presence was not widely felt due to their overall small numbers and their living in compact, mainly rural communities. However, in the recent decade-and-a-half, the newly independent postCommunist Lithuania has been witnessing the (re)appearance of Islam on its soil, where the revived indigenous Tatar Muslim community is being supplemented by immigrant Muslims and even a steadily growing group of Lithuanian converts to Islam. So far, however, Muslims in Lithuania form a very small minority and do not exceed several thousand in a total population of a little less than 3.5 million in the country. The last nationwide population census in April 2001 put the figure of Muslims in Lithuania at 2,860, of whom 1,679 identified themselves as Tatars, and 185 as Lithuanians (Population by Sex, Age and Religion 2002: 204-5). It should be mentioned that not all Tatars identified themselves with Islam – the total number of Tatars (including Crimean Tatars) was 3,245. The total number of people from predominantly Muslim countries was more than 4,500 (Population by Sex, Age and Religion 2002: 188-9).
