MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - 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.
SOOTHSAYERSYet 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.”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.”Rabbani, who has been a palm reader for 15 years, gets to
work.With a magnifying glass, he studies the lines on Zobaida’s
hand and then matches them with an old, tattered and densely
printed book of diagrams of palms.Each match corresponds to a mathematical formula which is
calculated to provide an answer that points to a specific
“sura,” “separah” and “ayat” of the Koran — a bit like the
Bible’s books, chapters and verses.”You see we only provide answers that are given in the
Koran,” says Shah Agha, a 31-year-old third generation fortune
teller who plies his trade outside a shrine in Kabul.Agha favors using dice rather than reading palms. His
client shakes and throws two wooden dice inscribed with letters
from the Dari alphabet which are then matched to ancient
mathematical tables which also point to specific Koranic
verses.Once the appropriate verse has been revealed, the fortune
teller copies it in flowery script to a piece of paper using a
fountain pen filled with ink specific to the problem — red for
family, black for wealth, blue for education, green for health.The verse is repeatedly folded over until it is a tight
bundle, then wrapped in cotton thread before being given to the
supplicant to keep next to their skin.”Repeat these verses for a week when you say your prayers,”
Agha tells his client, an elderly woman who lifts her burqa
from her face and listens intently as he talks.”If you truly believe in your heart, then, God willing, it
will come to pass,” he concludes.Fortune tellers say most of their clients are women or the
elderly seeking guidance for problems affecting their families.
Younger people tend to come only when all else has failed.Sakina, aged 30, is a typical case. Weeping softly, she
tells the fortune teller that she has marital problems.”I have 4 children but my husband has left me and is going
to marry another woman. Please do something to stop him.”While Islam allows a man to take up to four wives if he is
able to care equally for them, in practice men frequently
re-marry without their first wife’s permission, diluting her
influence and jeopardizing her children’s inheritance.Nargis is a newlywed who has come to a fortune teller.”It is two years I have been married to a boy, but still we
do not have a child,” said the fashionably dressed woman. “A
friend told me to come here and seek a solution.”For those who consult the soothsayers, their problems are
universal.”My mother-in-law is not good with me,” said Shokriya, aged
23.”I love a boy, but his family does not agree with our
marriage,” says another young woman, giggling with her sisters
as the fortune teller consults his tables.The cost of a consultation depends on the largesse of the
customer.”If they can afford nothing, they give us nothing,” said
one palm reader. “A richer person might give a dollar and then
maybe more if their fortune comes to pass.”While many scholars are seeking a formal government ban on
fortune telling, others are more tolerant of some of their
skills.”Forecasting and foretelling is against Islam,” said
Maulawi Qari Mohammad Qasim, the prayer leader of Hazrat Ali
shrine from where the soothsayers were recently evicted.”But if they recite the Koranic words (out loud) for the
good of people without doing business, it is alright in Islam,”
he said.(Additional reporting and writing by David Fox in Kabul;
editing by Megan Goldin)
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