Bulgaria is the gateway to Europe on the eastern side of the world and the political center of the Balkans. It is a bridge linking the East and West, through which successive civilizations crossed, leaving behind a history whose evidence is still present, especially the Islamic civilizations.

The number of Muslims in Bulgaria is currently estimated at 1.5 million, but the population was much larger before the Ottomans left in 1877.

Muslims in Bulgaria have faced varying conditions, reaching the point of persecution during the days of communist rule, then dispersal, according to former Yemeni Ambassador to Bulgaria Abdul Razzaq al-Amrani.

Al-Amrani, in a lecture on the sidelines of the Istanbul International Arab Book Fair in early October, said: "The worst stage Muslims lived in Bulgaria was during the communist rule, in the period between 1944-1989, when they robbed them of their identity and stripped them of their religion by force. In just two months, they expelled more than 300,000 Bulgarian Muslims of Turkish descent."

Al-Amrani, who was also attending a book signing for his book "Bulgaria from the Eastern Corner," added: "In 1985, the Bulgarian authorities forced Muslims at the time to change their names and religion, depriving them of their money and property, not to mention looting and confiscating mosques and turning them into discos and stores, at best. The situation turned to museums, and he closed a large number of them, and so far no one can reopen them."

Bulgaria from the east corner

In an interview with Daily Sabah, al-Amrani pointed out that minarets were raised in Bulgaria before they were raised in Istanbul, as Islam entered Bulgaria before the conquest of Constantinople by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror in 1453.

The writer also mentions in his book that "there are those who say that Islamic and Arab antiquities and inscriptions were found in Bulgaria, indicating the entry of Islam to it before the Ottoman conquest.

"Some historians confirm, based on historical facts, that the inhabitants of the Rudbe region in southern Bulgaria, the Pomak, are considered the descendants of the Umayyads who besieged Constantinople at the time, and were unable to enter it, so some of them continued toward Bulgaria and settled there and spread Islam."

"Therefore, it is necessary to recall the intimate relationship between Islam, the Ottomans, the Bulgarians and the Arabs, and this is one of the main reasons that prompted me to prepare my book," he adds.

On what motivated him to write the book, Al-Amrani said: "This is the only Arabic book that discusses and deals with the situation of Islam and Muslims in Bulgaria, and what prompted me to write it is that after I was appointed as an ambassador of Yemen in Bulgaria in 2013, I did not find any Arab reference that raises this issue. The references were Turkish or Bulgarian, so they were biased.

"On the side of the Bulgarians or on the side of the Muslims, I have not found any neutral references that give accurate information."

In "Bulgaria from the Eastern Corner," al-Amrani explains how the Muslims in Bulgaria arrived from the eastern side and details their origins, numbers, distribution, the conditions they endured and the difficulties and problems that Muslims suffer in Bulgaria from the exit of the Ottomans until now.

Origins of Muslims in Bulgaria

The origins of the Muslims of Bulgaria go back to several nationalities and peoples. The majority are of Turkish descent, as Turkish Muslims constitute 60%, followed by the Pomak Muslims at 25%, then the Romani Muslims at 15% and the Tatars who constitute a small percentage of Muslims, according to Amrani's book.

The author points out that the largest Muslim population centers are concentrated around two regions, the first located in the northeast of Bulgaria, where the squares of "Ruse, Silistra, Varna, Shumen" are located, while the second region is located in southern Bulgaria on the Rhodope Mountains.

About 80% of Bulgarian Turks live in these two regions, while 90% of the Pomak Muslims reside in the Western Rhodope region. Muslims are also spread across areas close to the western, Serbian, Macedonian, Greek and Turkish borders.

The Muslims of Bulgaria are generally characterized by their rural lifestyle, as most work in agriculture, according to al-Amrani.

1.5 million Muslims

The writer stated that "the number of Muslims in Bulgaria, the closest to the accuracy, is one and a half million, based on what was reported by the Mufti of Bulgaria."

"Some exaggerated estimates indicate that the number of Muslims in Bulgaria is more than 3 million and that Muslims constitute 25% of the population, that could have been true if we were talking about the number of Muslims when the Ottomans left Bulgaria in 1878, before the displacements," he added.

There are 1,283 mosques in Bulgaria and they are divided into two parts. The first are the mosques where the five daily prayers are held but Friday prayers are not held, of which there are 126, whereas in the second type of mosque, the five daily prayers are recited as well as Friday and Eid prayers, which number 1,157.

Al-Amrani pointed out that there are large numbers of mosques that have been closed since communist rule in the country, some of which have been converted into stores and museums, however, these shuttered mosques cannot be reopened because successive Bulgarian governments have said that "the current number of mosques is enough for Muslims."

He points out that most of these mosques are located in villages and suburbs, but in cities, for example, in the capital Sofia, there was only one mosque in 2010 due to the difficulty of obtaining licenses to build the place of worship. In 2012 the Arab community opened two other mosques in the suburbs far from the city, while there were 85 mosques when the Ottomans left.

Situation of Muslims in Bulgaria

Regarding the current situation of Muslims in Bulgaria, al-Amrani said: "At least from the official side, there is no harassment but rather a hostile individual or partisan behavior, such as the right-wing party 'Ataka,' which from time to time harasses Muslims, as it had previously protested the sound of loudspeakers and prayers outside the mosque."

Also, in 2014, hundreds of people gathered in front of the Bulgarian city court of Plovdiv to protest the conversion of the "Korshom" mosque under the Bulgarian Islamic authorities.

Al-Amrani pointed out in his book that the biggest obstacle faced by Muslims in Bulgaria is the lack of imams, according to what was reported by the mufti of Bulgaria, as well as its inability to pay the imams' salaries.

Reliant on youth

However, al-Amrani stressed that life for Muslims today in Bulgaria is much better than it was in the past, as they have a house for fatwas and institutions, and have regained a small part of their material and moral rights.

He stressed that they are still looking forward to a better future, especially today's youth who want to learn to read the Quran in mosques and have become more knowledgeable and committed to matters of religion, compared to the elderly who grew up at the time of the ban in the days of communism. He said especially those who leave Bulgaria to study or work in Western Europe and return more committed to religion because, in the West, they have more religious freedom there than in Bulgaria.

Al-Amrani concluded his comments to Daily Sabah by saying: "Today we look to these young people to carry the torch toward a better future for Muslims in Bulgaria, to work to unite their ranks, overcome challenges, and benefit from the state of sympathy with Islam in some aspects of Bulgarian society.

"So much so that a number of Bulgarians have converted to Islam just because they read about it on the internet, and then they came to the headquarters of Dar al-Ifta to request information about Islam and take the necessary measures to declare their Islam."