Ibrahim Kanapacki
Ibrahim Barysavič Kanapacki was a Belarusian Lipka Tatar religious, political, and cultural leader.
Early life and career
Ibrahim Kanapacki was born to Barys Ibrahimavič Kanapacki and Safji Mustafaŭna in Smilavichy, in what was then the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union. He was descended from a family of Lipka Tatar szlachta. His grandfather, Ibrahim Chasinievič Kanapacki, served as imam of Smilavichy. In addition to Ibrahim, the Kanapacki family had 3 other children: daughters Razalija and Tanzilia and son Mustafa.In 1966, Kanapacki entered the historical faculty of the Maxim Gorky Minsk State Pedagogical Institute. He later worked at the Kamienaborsk school in the Byerazino District, in the Minsk Region. In 1972, Kanapacki became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In 1975, Kanapacki married Hanna Kochna. In 1976 they had a son, named Zachar, and in 1978, they had a daughter, named Zaryna.
Lipka Tatar leadership
In 1990, Kanapacki helped to found the Al-Kitab Belarusian Association of Muslim Tatars. The first conference of Zikr ul-Kitab, dedicated to the 600th anniversary of the Lipka Tatars in Belarus, was held on 26 and 27 March 1993. In January 1994, he was a member of the organising committee of the First All-Belarusian Association of Muslims. In this period Kanapacki also became deputy mufti and Chairman of the Muslim Association of Minsk, as well as serving as head of the Smilavichy Mosque.From 1999, Kanapacki served as editor-in-chief of the Belarusian-language Bayram and Al-Islam magazines, in addition to the Life and Tatar Life newspapers. From 1996, the Muslim Tatar Calendar of Belarus was also published under his editorship. He assisted in the 1993 republishing of Anton Mukhlinsky's 1857 book 'Study of the Origin and Status of Lithuanian Tatars'. In 1997, he was one of the authors of the Manuscripts and Printed Books of Belarusian Tatars catalogue.
From his position within the Muslim community, he worked to restore mosques throughout Belarus, including Slonim, Smilavichy, Navahrudak, Vidzy, Kletsk, Maladzyechna, Lowchytsy, and the Minsk Cathedral Mosque. In 1995, he assisted with the creation of a Lipka Tatar cultural centre in Iwye.
As one of the leaders of the Belarusian Islamic community, Kanapacki promoted religious harmony, and made himself known as an active supporter of the Belarusian national and cultural revival, speaking the Belarusian language in everyday life.