The Bulgarian Muslims or Muslim Bulgarians (Bulgarian: българи-мохамедани, as of recently also българи-мюсюлмани; locally called pomak, ahryan, poganets, marvak, poturnak) are Bulgarians of the Islamic faith. They are generally thought to be the descendents of the local Slavs who converted to Islam during Ottoman rule (just as the Bosniaks in the western Balkan regions). Most scholars have agreed that the Muslim Bulgarians are a religious group of Slav Bulgarians who speak Bulgarian as their mother tongue and do not understand Turkish, but whose religion and customs are Islamic. Muslim Bulgarians live mostly in the Rhodopes – Smolyan Province, the southern part of the Pazardzhik and Kardzhali Provinces and the eastern part of the Blagoevgrad Province in Southern Bulgaria. They also live i