Islam in the interior of the Eurasian landmass is a big subject—geographically, chronologically, ethnolinguistically, socioeconomically,  geopolitically, and in many other dimensions.  This guide can only provide a general sense of the types of sources and strategies that are available to the scholar.  Each individual topic, depending on the ethnic or religious group, social class, geographic location, historical period, and type of relations being studied, will suggest particular resources and limitations.  In some cases new resources have become available in recent years that can save scholars significant amounts of time and effort; in other cases, older, half-forgotten sources can be extremely valuable; in others, the lack of new (especially online) resources goes hand in hand with a decline in publishing and bibliographic work in certain regions, which can increase the difficulty of certain lines of inquiry.  For additional information on researching specific subjects, please contact the Slavic Reference Service (see right-hand column) or consult our online Introduction to Slavic Information Resources.

(Mosque in Bohoniki, Poland, whose Tatar community dates from the 17th century)