Jakub Szynkiewicz (April 16, 1884 – November 1, 1966) was a Doctor of Philosophy as well as Oriental Studies, chosen as the first

mufti A Mufti (; ar, مفتي) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion (''fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatwas'' played an important role ...

of the newly independent

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

in 1925.

Biography

Jakub Szynkiewicz was born to a

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

family on 16 April 1884 in

Lyakhavichy Liachavičy ( be, Ляхавічы, , russian: Ляховичи, pl, Lachowicze, yi, לעכאוויטש ''Lekhavitsh'', lt, Liachivičai) is a city in the southwestern Belarusian Brest Region. History Known since the 15th century in the Grand D ...

(Lachowicze) in the

Minsk Governorate The Minsk Governorate (russian: Минская губерния, Belarusian: ) or Government of Minsk was a governorate ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. The seat was in Minsk. It was created in 1793 from the land acquired in the partitio ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(from 1921 to 1939 part of

, today western

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

). He was son of Sulejman and Fatma. He had a brother, Mustafa Szynkiewicz, a Chairman of Związek Tatarów Litewskich (en. Society of Lithuanian Tatars), and sister Amina. In 1904 he graduated from the Minsk

High School A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

(Męska Szkoła Realna), after which he first studied engineering sciences, but later in 1907 he decided to study Orientalism in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. In 1925 he earned a doctorate in philosophy at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

with a dissertation in German language.Schinkewitsch, Jakob: ''Rabghuzis Syntax''. In: ''Mitteilungen d. Sem. f. Orient. Sprachen zu Berlin, Abt. II ''. Jg. 29, Berlin, Phil. Diss. vom 10. Juni 1926. Berlin, Reichsdruckerei, 1926 On 28 October that year he was elected Mufti of all Muslims in

. Its headquarters was located in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

. He translated a number of verses from the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

from

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

into

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

, published in 1935 under the title ''Wersety z Koranu''. During his leadership he created contacts with much of the outside

Muslim World The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...

with India, Palestine,

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and others.

Mufti A Mufti (; ar, مفتي) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion (''fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatwas'' played an important role ...

Szynkiewicz also attended the

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

caliphate A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

congress in 1926. During the European Muslim Congress in 1935, he was called "one of the most articulate participants".Swiss Exile: The European Muslim Congress, 1935 by Martin Kramer (from Islam Assembled)
/ref> In a dramatic episode at the congress, Mufti Szynkiewicz demanded that the director of the Istituto Superiore Orientale di Napoli, Count Bernardo Barbiellini Amidei, pronounce the profession of faith (

shahada The ''Shahada'' ( Arabic: ٱلشَّهَادَةُ , "the testimony"), also transliterated as ''Shahadah'', is an Islamic oath and creed, and one of the Five Pillars of Islam and part of the Adhan. It reads: "I bear witness that there i ...

) three times before congress participants when the count appeared before the congress to ask that it formally recognize his adherence to Islam. Mufti Szynkiewicz also oversaw the formal regulation of the newly independent

state dealing with the legal status of

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

in 1936. He was central in the plans to build a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

that was interrupted by the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

invasion of

in 1939.

World War II and exile

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he served as ''Mufti fuer die besetzten Ostgebiete''. In late 1944 he left and declined to return to Communist Poland. After the war he resettled in

but moved to the United States following the pro-Soviet Nasser coup of 1952. He died in

Waterbury Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 202 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

, on 1 November 1966.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szynkiewicz, Jakub 1884 births 1966 deaths 20th-century imams 20th-century Muslim scholars of Islam Egyptian emigrants to the United States People from Lyakhavichy People from Slutsky Uyezd Polish emigrants to Egypt Polish imams Polish Muslims Polish people of Lipka Tatar descent Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta People from the Russian Empire of Lipka Tatar descent