A plan by an Islamic foundation to open a Muslim prayer and community center inside a residential block in Kraków has ignited a local backlash and become the latest flashpoint in Poland’s debate over immigration, integration and religious pluralism.
The Al-Fajr Foundation, which describes itself as an Islamic and cultural group serving Muslims in Kraków and across Poland, is raising funds to rent and renovate a 360-square-meter space on a housing estate in the city’s Podwawelskie neighborhood. The facility would function as a prayer room and as an educational and social hub offering Qur’an classes, Arabic lessons, youth and women’s programs, and broader community support. The group says it needs 250,000 zloty (about 59,000 euros) to cover renovation and six months’ rent and has so far collected nearly 63,000 zloty through an online crowdfunding campaign.
Al-Fajr argues the project responds to a pressing need. The foundation says the two locations currently used by Kraków’s Muslim community are operating at capacity, particularly during major religious events. The city, Poland’s second-largest urban center and a growing hub for foreign workers and students, has seen a steady increase in Muslim residents over the past decade alongside wider immigration trends.
The choice of location, however, has stirred unease among some residents of the estate, who fear a large religious facility inside their apartment block could disrupt daily life. Locals have raised concerns about increased traffic, noise and the number of visitors, as well as broader worries about security and the character of the neighborhood. Some opponents have described the project as a “mosque in a block,” language that has quickly been amplified by sympathetic media and political actors.
Municipal officials and local media stress that the planned center would not be a mosque in the traditional sense. According to reporting by the regional daily Gazeta Krakowska, the site would not feature minarets or loudspeaker calls to prayer five times a day — symbols and practices often associated with purpose-built mosques in Western Europe. That distinction has done little to calm critics, who insist that any dedicated Muslim prayer space of that size amounts to a de facto mosque.
In a statement to Gazeta Krakowska, Al-Fajr said it understands that new initiatives can provoke questions and anxiety, especially when “incomplete information” circulates. The foundation said it sought to engage residents directly by organizing a neighborhood meeting to explain the plans. Only two people attended, the group noted, a turnout it suggested undercut claims of widespread, deeply felt opposition on the estate.
City authorities say the project remains at an early, informal stage. Jan Machowski, a spokesman for Kraków city hall, told the newspaper the premises in question are currently registered as having a combined “residential and commercial function.” Any change in use to religious or educational purposes, he said, would require a formal application and official approval. No such request has yet been submitted.
Local housing cooperative leaders warn that zoning rules could pose an obstacle regardless of public sentiment. Mateusz Czapla, a city councilor and chairman of the cooperative on the estate, said transforming the unit into a religious or educational facility would not comply with existing regulations governing the use of buildings in the area. He also echoed residents’ concerns that a high-traffic center might alter the rhythm of daily life on the estate and erode what some seniors describe as their sense of comfort and safety.
The dispute has quickly drawn in national actors, especially from the far-right Confederation party, which holds 16 seats in Poland’s parliament and has built much of its profile on opposition to immigration and Islam in Europe. Last week, Confederation organized a protest outside Kraków city hall under the slogan “No to the mosque in Kraków,” casting the planned facility as a threat to the city’s security and cultural identity.
Party activists argue that the proposed site will serve as more than a community center. They claim it will become a venue for “indoctrination,” warning of alleged risks of radicalization and drawing parallels with Western European cities where they say small prayer rooms gradually expanded into large religious complexes and self-contained immigrant districts. Confederation has urged municipal leaders to block the project and said it has formally asked Poland’s Internal Security Agency, known as ABW, to examine whether those managing and financing Al-Fajr have any links to terrorist organizations.
Krzysztof Mulawa, a Confederation member of parliament, has emerged as one of the most vocal critics. In public statements and posts on social media, he has called on Poles to “learn from the mistakes of Western Europe,” alleging that in many cities “a small place of prayer” was the starting point for “massive spread of Muslim culture” and the emergence of neighborhoods where “the local community no longer has a say.” He has accused Kraków’s authorities of failing to keep residents informed and claimed that key decisions are being taken “quietly, without consultations.”
The controversy comes amid wider tensions around Islam and migration in Poland, a country where Muslims remain a tiny minority but have become a frequent subject of political debate. Poland is home to one of Europe’s oldest Muslim communities, the Lipka Tatars, who settled in the region around present-day Poland, Lithuania and Belarus in the 14th century and today number roughly 2,000. Their historic presence, centered on small villages and wooden mosques in the northeast, has long been cited as evidence of Poland’s tradition of religious tolerance.
In recent years, however, the Muslim population has grown primarily through immigration. Exact figures are hard to come by, but estimates cited by the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza range from 20,000 to 60,000 Muslims nationwide, or about 0.05% to 0.15% of Poland’s population. Many are recent arrivals from Asia and the Middle East, including workers from countries such as India and Turkey who have come to fill labor shortages in sectors ranging from logistics to information technology.
The rise in visible Muslim religious practice has occasionally provoked controversy. Images and videos of large outdoor prayers marking the end of Ramadan in Polish cities have in the past triggered online storms and criticism from right-wing politicians, who present such events as evidence that mass immigration is changing Poland’s cultural landscape. Supporters counter that public religious celebrations by minority communities are a normal feature of pluralistic democracies and note that similar concerns were not raised when a Hindu temple opened on the outskirts of Kraków in 2022 to serve a growing Hindu population and promote Indian culture.
For now, the future of the Al-Fajr project remains uncertain. Without a formal planning application, city hall has limited grounds to intervene, and officials say they will respond once concrete documents are filed. Zoning rules, fire and safety regulations, and possible conditions on hours of operation and maximum capacity are all likely to come under scrutiny if the plan advances.
The foundation, meanwhile, continues to collect donations and insists that its goal is to create a peaceful, inclusive space for worship and dialogue. It portrays the center as a way to support integration rather than segregation, arguing that providing proper facilities for religious practice and community life can help newcomers connect with broader Polish society rather than retreat into isolation.
Residents and activists on both sides say the dispute has exposed deeper anxieties in Kraków over how the city should manage demographic change. Supporters of the center argue that Poland, now a major destination for migrants after decades as a sending country, must adapt its institutions and public spaces to a more diverse population, including by accommodating non-Catholic faiths. Opponents insist that such changes should be tightly controlled and subject to extensive local consultation, especially when they touch on identity, security and the character of long-established neighborhoods.
As the political temperature rises, some local voices are calling for a return to calm dialogue. They say that practical questions about parking, noise and crowd management should be addressed through normal administrative procedures, while broader disputes over immigration and Islam in Europe should not be waged on the backs of a single housing estate and its residents. Whether Kraków can find a compromise acceptable to both the Al-Fajr Foundation and skeptical neighbors may become an early test of how Poland handles the everyday realities of its new religious and ethnic diversity.
