Ukraine, a Eastern European country is the second largest country in the region, having seven countries on the border, second in size after the Russian Federation, which is the first in rank. Though the dominant religion of the Ukraine is the Orthodox Christianity, still a large number of Muslims are residing there for a remarkably long period of time. There are no fixed numbers or census of Muslim people living in this country. Variation in the estimated numbers gives a range of 300 000 to 500 000. According to a study of Pew forum, number of Muslim population residing there is about 393 000, whereas, some other studies stated that there are about 500 000 Muslim residents. As said by the Spiritual Administration of Muslims in Ukraine, about two million people there are Muslims.
Among the Muslim population, the majority is the Crimean Tatars, who are about 250 000 in number. Among the 487 Muslim communities, who are registered, 368 are living in the Crimean peninsula. About 30 are not yet registered. About 50 000 Muslims live in Kiev, who are mostly immigrants from other countries. In the meantime, let me tell you, Kiev is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine. Along with this large number of communities and population, Muslims also have about 433 ministers, and 160 mosques in Ukraine. There are more and more mosques being built, as the Muslim community grows steadily.
If we shed light on the history, Islam spread in Ukraine mainly from the Crimea. This was in the center of the very first attempts to colonize the Ukraine. Crimean Tatar Khanate was domicile there, in the middle of the 15th century. They were Sunni community, and the Mufti was the superior spiritual figure. The leader of the religious community were Imams. The sad part was that it soon became a subject state of the Ottoman Empire. In the 18th Century, there were almost 18 mosques and multiple educational institutions in the capital city of the Khanate. Then the Russian Empire started oppressing the Muslims of Crimea and more than 150 000 Muslims left Crimea in the second half of the 19th century. From that time until the Ukraine became independent, the Muslim community has gone through extremely hard times, lost many lives and was maltreated by other rulers.
After the independence, Crimean Tatars started returning to Ukraine. Today, various cultural subgroups are ruling the Muslim community by establishing new cultural and religious centers, some of which are:
The Spiritual Direction of the Muslims of Crimea- Started the journey from the year 1991 and comprises about 70% of registered Muslims.
The Spiritual Direction of the Muslims of Ukraine- Working from the year 1992 in Kiev and hold the second largest amount of Ukraine Muslims in the group.
The Spiritual Center of the Muslim Communities of Ukraine- Registered from the year 1994 and instituted the Party of Muslims of Ukraine In 1997.
With the help of these centers Muslim Communities are continually trying to get a larger number of representatives in the congress. The main motivation is to be united and harmonize the total Muslim Community of Ukraine.
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