I pray that they have peace and safety, for the whole country, men and women alike. And the Taliban also, that they have peace with each other, so they have time to think more about enlightenment, more about the Prophet’s teaching, Peace Be Upon Him, more about Allah. (Yes, Master.) More about peace within their own country, with each other, and within the international community.
(Hallo, Master.) Hi. (How have You been doing?) OK. OK. Not bad. How about you guys? (Oh, we’re very well, Master.) You like the food still? (Oh, yes.) Even though it’s not your taste maybe? (Oh, no. It’s quite pleasant. We have many different dishes.) They try their best, I guess. (Yes, they do, Master.) And if you don’t like it one day, why don’t you just roll up your sleeves and cook something? (Yes, that’s true.) Cook yourself well. (Yes.) Don’t let them cook you well. (Yes.)
Did you have cakes and grapefruit for Moon Festival that I told them to send you? (We did, Master. Very enjoyable.) A lot? (Yes, quite a bit.) I told them to give a lot, a lot, so you can have the whole month, maybe. Not Moon Festival, but “month festival.” (Thank You very much, Master. We really appreciate it.)
And the work’s OK? Everything OK? (Everything is fine, Master.) I appreciate you guys for late night, early morning, and sometimes in between. I appreciate it when you guys wake up after midnight or 2, 3, 4 o’clock in the morning, without complaining. Or at least I don’t hear the complaint. (Oh, Master, is working harder than us, so…) Never mind. I deserve it. Whatever that’s measured to me, I deserve it. Because I don’t have to do it. I chose it myself. So I can’t complain. You guys can complain, but inside. Don’t let me hear it.
Nobody likes to hear complaints. (Oh no. No. Not nice.) That’s why I don’t complain a lot, even though I could. As you say, I work the hardest. Never mind. Never mind. What else to do? People suffer more than us. (That’s true.)
Even if we work all day, all night, we still are better off than many people. (Yes, very much so, Master.) Very much so, a lot of people, refugees, and war-torn countries, hunger and now the pandemic, even makes more people hungry. (Yes.) Because they cannot do the work as much as they did before, and then because they cannot harvest very well like before because they don’t have enough working staff and many staff are sick and all that, so even supermarkets, they have to close or restaurants have to close because they don’t have enough staff. (Yes.) Either staff get sick and die, or they are not allowed to go out, or they’re afraid to go out. And they just… (Yes, there is fear.) That’s terrible, terrible, terrible.
Oh, what a terrible world that we have nowadays, and the climate change doesn’t help. Many places, the drought ‒ chronic droughts or chronic floods, and oh my God, I saw all that on TV and it’s not much I can say anymore except feeling so sorrowful. The angels and the Heavens try to comfort me, but it doesn’t help me, doesn’t help me to forget all that. (Yes, Master.)
Anyway, it’s Moon Festival and I wish all of you in-house, out-house, and everyone in the world, whoever can hear me, a very good Moon Festival and a more hopeful future. (Thank You very much, Master. We wish You the same. We wish You a wonderful and beautiful Moon Festival, Master.) I try to. I try to. I try to think that it’s Moon Festival, but I don’t even know what day it is and I don’t even know if it’s the Moon Festival already or not. I’m just reminded by your TV, that they are putting up some program or something ‒ and make me check ‒ to celebrate Moon Festival, and then I remembered, “Oh, the Moon Festival!” So I ordered the kitchen and supplier to bring you some good stuff, like moon cakes, (Yes.) chocolate and grapefruit. (Grapefruit, yes.) But I think where you live, they have only green ones, but it’s still good, right? Sweet, right? (I’ve not tried but everyone tells me it’s very sweet.) OK, OK. Try it. It’s good for you. There’s a lot for everybody. I ordered at least 12 for each of you. (Yes. Thank You, Master. Thank You.) And many cakes and all that. So if you don’t have enough, order more. (OK.) Because this season, we have a lot of grapefruit, and it’s very, very good for you. Some other years, I ate some. They are always sweet. They never disappoint me. But I haven’t eaten it this year. Oh, yeah, I did eat sometime before when they gave … Not these days. No, not these days, just some other days. Long time ago. I can always have it, don’t worry. (OK. That’s good to know.)
Is there something? (Oh, yes, Master, we have some questions. If we could ask You, if You have time?) Sure, sure. It’s 2 o’clock in the morning, supposed to be sleeping, but I still have a lot of work. (Yes.) So it doesn’t matter if a little bit more. It won’t kill me. I hope.
"Media Report from DW News Journalist(m) Sept. 14, 2021: Women in Afghanistan will be allowed to study in female-only classrooms, and the subjects they take will also be reviewed."
"Global News Interview School official(m) Sept. 9, 2021: So we are trying our best to accept these new instructions from the Ministry of Higher Education and also encourage students to attend their classes."
"Global News Interview Student(f) Sept. 9, 2021: Within this new policy, boys and girls will be separated and they might even attend classes at different times."
(Master, the Taliban now say that Afghan women can continue their studies in universities, but they need to wear black hijab, which would cover them fully, except the face. They also need to be in separate rooms from the males. Master, what do You think about that?)
Oh, except the face, yeah? (Except the face.) That’s already an improvement. Before, they had to cover everything, like burka. (Yes, everything.) Now they… except the face. Are you sure? Hijab is except the face, right? (Hijab – except the face. Fully…) Fully from head to toe except the face. That’s already something. At least you can see the Sun. At least the Sun can kiss your face, to comfort you, (Yes.) and give you some nice color. Vitamin D, good for people, men and women alike.
What do I think? I think it’s a good improvement already, and people should be happy for any improvement. Any progress. The country has just been in turmoil recently, so whatever improvement, they should welcome it.
I know the women love to be beautiful and all that. I too, I too. But nowadays, I’m in retreat, I couldn’t care less much. Of course, that’s good. But if I am not with you guys or on camera and all that, I couldn’t care less what it is. (Understand.) When I go out alone without any disciples, I mean, when I live alone without having to do anything with the work, the mission, then I don’t wear any makeup. I don’t wear anything luxury. All the things I wear are just because of work, like fashion. (Yes.) I designed them, so I wear them, like advertisement. (Yes, Master.)
Otherwise, nowadays, I think the most important thing is: You should focus on more than just the looks. (Yes, Master.) Are you a woman or something? Why are you so concerned? (Well, Afghanistan is a very hot country and wearing hijab may be uncomfortable for some women.) Yeah, yeah, OK. But better than burka already. (Ah, yes.) Burkas cover everything except some net in front of your eyes, and you could not even see around. (That’s true, Master.) Difficult and you fall down sometimes. Or somebody might attack you and you don’t even know yet. Behind you, or when he comes near, you don’t even see. So this is an improvement already. Of course, it’s not completely to the liking of a woman or many other countries where the dress code is more relaxed and easy. (Right, Master.)
But we have to look on the positive side, like it is good for now because the important thing is to be wise, and to have peace in the country. So if you just accept it, that will calm down everything now at least, more, for the women, and be more peaceful for them. (Right. Right, Master.) Because if you show your beauty, it could be also a risk. Especially now, when all over it says that the fighters go out door to door and kidnap girls and force women, raping and all that. So, it is better you cover yourself. (Yes, I have seen stories about that.) It’s wise to cover more yourself.
And also, if you want education, you don’t want anything else. If you want to go to school or outside, you want education, safety and peace. So it’s good, you just go along with it for now. Maybe in the future things will change and you will have more freedom. But right now, it’s good like that. (Right, Master.) It’s very good already.
And then if you’re separate from the men, it’s also good. So both can be more concentrated on education, (Yes.) instead of looking left and right, in front and back, just for something else. (Right.) It also saves money, saves time for clothes searching; and avoids competitive feelings of the outer looks, envies, or inferior or superior feelings between the haves and the have-nots. Think positively and concentrate on more important things instead. (Yes.)
I think it’s not too bad like that. It’s not the worst thing that happened. At least you can go to college, university, that’s a good thing already. (Yes.) That’s the best thing for you if that’s what you want. (Yes.) Then you can help yourself for a nice future, and a good future, and for the country, contribute to your country and your family. (Yes, education is very valuable.) Yeah, education is important, more than looks. At least just for now, for peace’s sake. (Yes, Master.)
I heard some idiom somewhere that if you are on the pirates’ boat, then you just stay there, don’t jump in the sea. Don’t jump into the sea, because you can’t escape either. (Right.) You might even lose your life. So, whatever situation, if it doesn’t endanger your life, then I think we should just accept it.
It’s good that you ask all these questions. I think it’s good that the men ask, because it shows that everybody cares, not just women who care about themselves. (Yes, we do, definitely.) It’s good. You happy with my answer? (Yes, Master.) Anything else?
(Yes. Some women don’t like the new dress code, and right now we see in the news that, “Afghan women around the world are protesting against the Taliban new hijab mandate by posting photos of themselves wearing colorful traditional dresses on social media.” Does Master have any comment on that?)
It’s also good like that. Why not? They are free to express their opinions. (Yes.) And besides, the traditional clothes are very beautiful, also very dignified. (Yes, very much so.) It covers also a lot of the body. (Very much so.) It’s also very, very, very nice clothes. I saw it. I saw it myself. It’s very colorful, very beautiful. It shows their national mentality. (Yes.) Like, they love beauty, they love brightness. They love colorful things that make life more bearable. (Yes, very elegant.) Elegant, oh, that’s good as well. It’s just their situation is different, so we just…
The Afghan women outside, they can wear what they want. (Right, Master.) And the people inside the Afghan country, they should just go with the flow, I think, just for peace’s sake and safety’s sake. (Right, Master.) More safety. More safety for them. It is good like that also.
I’m answering you but I just hope they hear me. At least maybe their souls can hear me. And they can think about it and just accept it for now, for their own peace and safety. (Right.)
I pray that they have peace and safety, for the whole country, men and women alike. And the Taliban also, that they have peace with each other, so they have time to think more about enlightenment, more about the Prophet’s teaching, Peace Be Upon Him, more about Allah. (Yes, Master.) More about peace within their own country, with each other, and within the international community. (Yes, Master. We wish them the very best.) Yes.
