Bulgarian Muslims
Encyclopedia
The Bulgarian Muslims or Muslim Bulgarians are Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
of the Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic faith. They are generally thought to be the descendents of Slavs who converted to Islam during Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
rule. Most scholars have agreed that the Muslim Bulgarians are a religious group of Slav Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
who speak Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
as their mother tongue and do not understand Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, but whose religion and customs are Islamic. Muslim Bulgarians live mostly in the Rhodopes – Smolyan Province
Smolyan Province
-Religion:The Smolyan province along with the Kardzhali Province is a province where the predominant religion is not Orthodox Christianity but Islam. However, unlike Kardzhali where the majority of the population is Turkish, the Muslim population of the Smolyan province is made up almost entirely...
, the southern part of the Pazardzhik
Pazardzhik Province
Pazardzhik Province is a province in Southern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre - the town of Pazardzhik. It embraces a territory of 4,456.9 km² that is divided into 11 municipalities with a total population of 290,614 inhabitants, as of December 2009.-History:The...
and Kardzhali Province
Kardzhali Province
Kardzhali Province is a province of southern Bulgaria, neighbouring Greece with the Greek prefectures of Xanthi, Rhodope and Evros to the south and east. Kardzhali Province area is 3209.1 km². Its main city is Kardzhali.-History:...
s and the eastern part of the Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province , also known as Pirin Macedonia , is a province of southwestern Bulgaria. It borders four other Bulgarian provinces to the north and east, Greece to the south, and the Republic of Macedonia to the west. The province has 14 municipalities with 12 towns...
in Southern Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. They also live in a group of villages in the Lovech Province
Lovech Province
Lovech Province is one of the 28 provinces of Bulgaria, lying at the northern centre of the country. It is named after its main city - Lovech. As of December 2009, the population of the area is 151,153.-Municipalities:...
in Northern Bulgaria. The name Pomak is pejorative in Bulgarian and is resented by most members of the community, especially by non-practising Muslims. The name adopted and used instead is Bulgarian Muslims.
Muslim Bulgarians do not represent a homogenous community and have a multitude of ethnic and religious identities. A clear majority of them (131,531 according to the latest census in 2001) declare themselves to be ethnic Bulgarians of Muslim faith. However, a significant percentage, in particular in the Central and Eastern Rhodopes (the Smolyan
Smolyan Province
-Religion:The Smolyan province along with the Kardzhali Province is a province where the predominant religion is not Orthodox Christianity but Islam. However, unlike Kardzhali where the majority of the population is Turkish, the Muslim population of the Smolyan province is made up almost entirely...
and Kardzhali Province
Kardzhali Province
Kardzhali Province is a province of southern Bulgaria, neighbouring Greece with the Greek prefectures of Xanthi, Rhodope and Evros to the south and east. Kardzhali Province area is 3209.1 km². Its main city is Kardzhali.-History:...
), are not religious or choose to disassociate themselves from Islam. Thus, the Smolyan Province, which is largely populated by Muslim Bulgarians (approx. 117,000 or 71% of the population according to the Ministry of Interior in 1989), has the highest number of people who did not declare any religion in the 2001 Census - 39,003 or 27.8% of the population of the province - compared to a national average of only 3.6%. Considering the insignificant change in the number of Christian Bulgarians (from approx. 47,000 in 1989 to 41,792 in 2001), the total number of ethnic Bulgarians in the province (122,806 or 87.7%) and that only 58,758 people or 41.9% of the population of the province declared to profess Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
in 2001, the vast majority of the undeclared must be of Muslim Bulgarian extraction.
A similar phenomenon is observed in the Kardzhali Province
Kardzhali Province
Kardzhali Province is a province of southern Bulgaria, neighbouring Greece with the Greek prefectures of Xanthi, Rhodope and Evros to the south and east. Kardzhali Province area is 3209.1 km². Its main city is Kardzhali.-History:...
(approx. 30,000 Muslim Bulgarians in 1989) and the Lovech Province
Lovech Province
Lovech Province is one of the 28 provinces of Bulgaria, lying at the northern centre of the country. It is named after its main city - Lovech. As of December 2009, the population of the area is 151,153.-Municipalities:...
(approx. 8,000 Muslim Bulgarians in 1989), where the percentage of the undeclared is also well above the national average: 13,430 or 8.2% for Kardzhali and 10,739 or 6.3% for Lovech, respectively. In both provinces, the number of ethnic Bulgarians is higher (for Kardzhali, significantly higher) than the number of Orthodox Christians - 55,930 Bulgarians vs. 35,551 Orthodox Christians for Kardzhali and 152,194 Bulgarians vs. 148,023 Orthodox Christians for Lovech.
An additional, though smaller, number of Muslim Bulgarians, also from the Central and Eastern Rhodopes, have converted into Orthodox Christianity
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
or have adopted a Christian identity since 1990. The process of conversion has affected mostly Muslim Bulgarians living among or next to ethnic Turks, i.e. the regions of Nedelino
Nedelino
Nedelino is a town and municipality in the Rhodope Mountains of the Smolyan Province, southern Bulgaria. The former name of Nedelino was "Uzundere" which meaning "Long Creek"......
, Kirkovo
Kirkovo
Kirkovo is a village in Kardzhali Province, southern Bulgaria, near the Greek border. The Turkish name Kırkova means "Forty Plains".-External links:*...
, Zlatograd
Zlatograd
Zlatograd is a town in Smolyan Province, Southern-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Zlatograd Municipality. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 7,110 inhabitants....
and Krumovgrad
Krumovgrad
Krumovgrad is a town in Kardzhali Province in the very south of Bulgaria, located in the Eastern Rhodopes on the banks of the river Krumovitsa. The majority of its population consists of ethnic Turks...
. In some cases, the conversion has affected whole villages, which have adopted a Christian Bulgarian identity, as in the case of Zabardo in the Chepelare
Chepelare
Chepelare is a town and ski resort in Smolyan Province in Southern Bulgaria. It is situated in the central part of the Rhodopes, on the banks of Chepelare River. Chepelare is a popular winter resort with one of the longest ski runs in Southeastern Europe. It is located near Pamporovo, one of the...
Municipality or the younger generations in a village, as in the case with the village of Pripek in the Dzhebel
Dzhebel
Dzhebel is a town in Kardzhali Province, southern Bulgaria. It has 3,312 inhabitants. Dzhebel is the administrative center of a municipality, which apart from Dzhebel itself, contains 47 other villages and has a population of 9093. The municipality is mainly populated by ethnic Turks, which are...
Municipality. Bulgarian and Christian names are common, even among those who do not espouse a Christian identity, in particular, in the Eastern Rhodopes. For example, only one-third of the Muslim Bulgarian population of the region of Kirkovo, mostly people over 60 year, have Muslim names. Another tendency in the last years is for younger people to restore their Bulgarian names for the purpose of working abroad or studying in the country, as in the village of Varbina in the Municipality of Madan where 475 out of 1160 residents have recently changed their names to Bulgarian and Christian ones.
Unlike the Muslim Bulgarians in the Central and Eastern Rhodopes, who usually have a Bulgarian identity and are mostly secular Muslims, non-religious or have even adopted Christianity, the ones living on the western fringes of the Rhodopes (in the provinces of Pazardzhik
Pazardzhik
Pazardzhik is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, Southern Bulgaria. It is the capital of Pazardzhik Province and centre for the homonymous Pazardzhik Municipality...
and Blagoevgrad
Blagoevgrad
Blagoevgrad is а city in southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Province, with a population of about 74,302 . It lies on the banks of the Blagoevgradska Bistritsa River....
) are strongly religious and have preserved the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
name system, customs and clothing. A significant part of them, may be a majority, have a non-Bulgarian ethnic consciousness, mostly Turkish but also Pomak or Muslim. For example, out of 62,431 self-declared Muslims in the Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province , also known as Pirin Macedonia , is a province of southwestern Bulgaria. It borders four other Bulgarian provinces to the north and east, Greece to the south, and the Republic of Macedonia to the west. The province has 14 municipalities with 12 towns...
in 2001, 31,857 (more than half) have opted for Turkish ethnicity although the self-declared speakers of Turkish as a mother tongue are only 19,819. Considering that mother tongue in the Bulgarian census is counted on the basis of a declaration of the respondent and not on actual proof of what language this person speaks at home and that an inquiry of the Ministry of the Interior in 1989 gave only 3,689 ethnic Turks and 56,191 Pomaks for the Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province , also known as Pirin Macedonia , is a province of southwestern Bulgaria. It borders four other Bulgarian provinces to the north and east, Greece to the south, and the Republic of Macedonia to the west. The province has 14 municipalities with 12 towns...
, it is highly likely that the vast majority of the Turks in the province are actually Pomaks with Turkish self-consciousness. A similar phenomenon exists in the Pazardzhik Province
Pazardzhik Province
Pazardzhik Province is a province in Southern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre - the town of Pazardzhik. It embraces a territory of 4,456.9 km² that is divided into 11 municipalities with a total population of 290,614 inhabitants, as of December 2009.-History:The...
where there may be between 10,000 and 15,000 Pomaks with Turkish self-consciousness.
Finally, there are those Muslim Bulgarans who have chosen not to declare their ethnicity in the 2001 Census. The percentage of undeclared in the Smolyan Province
Smolyan Province
-Religion:The Smolyan province along with the Kardzhali Province is a province where the predominant religion is not Orthodox Christianity but Islam. However, unlike Kardzhali where the majority of the population is Turkish, the Muslim population of the Smolyan province is made up almost entirely...
(9,696 or 6.9%), the Kardzhali Province
Kardzhali Province
Kardzhali Province is a province of southern Bulgaria, neighbouring Greece with the Greek prefectures of Xanthi, Rhodope and Evros to the south and east. Kardzhali Province area is 3209.1 km². Its main city is Kardzhali.-History:...
(4,565 or 2.8%) and the Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province , also known as Pirin Macedonia , is a province of southwestern Bulgaria. It borders four other Bulgarian provinces to the north and east, Greece to the south, and the Republic of Macedonia to the west. The province has 14 municipalities with 12 towns...
(4,242 or 1.2%) is well above the national average of 0.8%. These are most likely to be Muslim Bulgarians who would have opted for another ethnicity, for example "Pomak" or "Muslim", if these were allowed as answers at the census or are unclear themselves about their own ethnic identity.
Due to the multitude of different ethnic and religious identities of the Muslim Bulgarians, it is extremely difficult to calculate the exact number of the members of the community in Bulgaria. An inquiry conducted by the Bulgaran Ministry of the Interior in 1989 estimated their number at 269,000. A summation of the different groups with different religious and ethnic identities (approx. 130,000 Muslim Bulgarians, approx. 55,000-65,000 non-religious Bulgarians, up to 50,000 Muslim Turks, 15,000 to 20,000 undeclared and an unclear number, probably at least several thousands, of Christian Bulgarians) yields approximately the same number. Despite the multitude of different ethnic and religious affiliations, the predominant ethnic identity would be Bulgarian (approx. 200,000 or three-quarters of the total population) and the predominant religious identity would be Muslim (again approx. 200,000 or three-quarters of the total population). However, if only self-consciousness and self-declaration are taken into consideration, the number of Muslim Bulgarians would be only 131,531, i.e., the ones who have declared as such at the 2001 census.
Muslim Bulgarians in the Rhodopes speak a variety of archaic Bulgarian dialects
Bulgarian dialects
Bulgarian dialects are the regional spoken varieties of the Bulgarian language, a South Slavic language. Bulgarian dialectology dates to the 1830s and the pioneering work of Neofit Rilski, Bolgarska gramatika...
. Under the influence of mass media and school education, the dialects have been almost completely unified with standard Bulgarian among Muslim Bulgarians living in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
.
See also
- Islam in BulgariaIslam in BulgariaIslam is the largest minority religion in Bulgaria. According to the 2001 Census, the total number of Muslims in the country stood at 577,139, corresponding to 10 % of the population...
- PomaksPomaksPomaks is a term used for a Slavic Muslim population native to some parts of Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo. The Pomaks speak Bulgarian as their native language, also referred to in Greece and Turkey as Pomak language, and some are fluent in Turkish,...
- Torbesh
- Greek MuslimsGreek MuslimsGreek Muslims, also known as Greek-speaking Muslims, are Muslims of Greek ethnic origin, nowadays found mainly in Turkey, although migrations to Lebanon and Syria have been reported. Historically, Greek Orthodoxy has been associated with being Romios, i.e...
- Cheveneburi
- Lazs
- HamshenisHamshenisThe Hemshin Peoples or Hemshinli are a diverse group of people who in the past history or present have been affiliated with the Hemşin district in the province of Rize, Turkey. They are called as Hemshinli , Hamshenis, Homshentsi meaning resident of Hemshin in the relevant language...