Taliban And The Psychic Friends Network
This man’s fortune was very similar to all who stopped by that day: “Quit your Taliban ways or very soon your village will be liberated by well-trained, intelligent men bringing free choice and Dionne Warwick.
Perhaps they should have seen it coming, but Afghanistan’s traditional fortune tellers are under fire from religious elders who have branded their ancient practice as backward and un-Islamic.
Dozens of fortune tellers were recently ejected from the surrounds of the beautiful Hazrat Ali shrine in the northern city of Mazar-I-Sharif after religious elders responsible for the mosque’s upkeep tired of their presence.
“Islam does not permit the practice of fleecing simple people,” said Qari Mohammad Qasim, the head of the shrine, adding that action was taken after numerous public complaints.
Part soothsayer, part mathematician and part letter writer, Afghanistan’s “fallben” are an irregular fixture outside mosques and shrines across the country.
Their fortunes have fluctuated for nearly 1,400 years - since Islam was first revealed to Prophet Mohammed - but the practice dates back to when Alexander the Great conquered the country with his army and its multitude of accompanying gods, most of whom required constant consulting, a role for the soothsayers.
Banned and persecuted under the rule of the Taliban, fortune tellers have made a comeback since the hardline Islamic group was ousted in 2001.
For many like Shah Agha, their talent has been a family business for generations. Others, like Sayed Rabbani, learnt their skills in India where astrologers and fortune tellers are respected members of the community and can command huge fees.
But Muslim scholars consider fortune telling to be blasphemy.
“Fortune telling is not permitted in Islamic law. It has been mentioned clearly (in the Koran) that this is against Islamic values,” said Mohammd Ihsan Seaqal, Imam of a Kabul mosque.
“Fortune tellers are misusing the sacred religion for their personal advantage,” he said.
Yet still the customers come.
“My daughter is 30 and she is getting old. No-one has proposed to her,” said 51-year-old Zobaida outside a mosque in Mazar-al-Sharif.
She might be fucking ugly and a real bitch, ya ever think of that?
“I came here to tell her fortune and find a husband for her. Earlier, I had the same problem with my 23-year old daughter. I referred it to a fortune teller and he attracted a man to my daughter to marry her.”
Fortune teller recommended breast augmentation and anger management classes.
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“Islam does not permit the practice of fleecing simple people,” said Qari Mohammad Qasim, the head of the shrine, adding that action was taken after numerous public complaints.”
Me: Hell, you fuckers do that all the time. Only you call it “charity”. We call it funneling money to terrorists.
There are no specific references in the Koran to this. Islamics simply consider all Jadoo to be Haram. Seems to me it’s a matter of opinion.
In the Christian scriptures there are specific references to sorcery and fortune telling. In the Koran there isn’t. So, the bitch is lying.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:27 pm20% of all you earn to your mosque isn’t fleecing the simpleminded? Coulda fooled me.
January 30th, 2008 at 5:20 pm