“Knowledge is more important than money but only Allah knows the real future.”

I have been telling peoples fortunes for 15 years. Before that I worked with my father who told fortunes. I was his assistant. I went to a madrassa until the age of 21 in Wardak. After my national service I started working with my father who had a fortune shop in one of the oldest areas in Kabul which we would go to when we weren’t farming.

The procedure I follow is Raml. There are two sticks of 4 dice, which I roll and then ask the customer their name and their mother’s name. They have to point to a sign at random and then I make the assessment. It is a huge wisdom. Those 6 sides of dice know the secrets of the world. Through them, I know everything about everything and all the treasures of the world, which means that money isn’t important to me.

Knowledge is more important than money but only Allah knows the real future. People respect me for my knowledge and I don’t ask for money for my skills; people pay me what they think they should. It is up to them and for that reason, people like me. I am an honest man and do not anger Allah, people trust me.

I have between 2-10 customers a day and they are mostly men. They come to ask me about disputes with their neighbours or differences between tribes, which I am good at resolving. Women ask me about their children. Some of my customers come from as far away as Logar and Mazar-e-Sharif.

My father learnt fortune telling from Punjabi people in Pakistan.

I have always been here in Murat Khane. It is the oldest part of the city, the heart of it, if you like. I live in PD 13 with my 3 sons. One is a taxi driver, the others are at school still. They are happy with my work but don’t want me to teach them about it. Only Allah really knows the future.

Under the Taliban such practices were banned however and we moved to Quetta. I was telling fortunes there but not making enough money so my sons had to sell snuff on the streets. I can’t say those days were happy, but we survived. No, those days were the worst. We were so happy to be returning to Kabul when they fell but it was like returning to a ghost town. There was so much destruction everywhere.

I don’t think the Taliban could ever come back. I mean the foreign soldiers are here now so they can’t. All they can do is blow themselves up. Let them.