TAMANA

AFGHANISTAN

“Do you know what you are?

You are a manuscript oƒ a divine letter.

You are a mirror reflecting a noble face.

This universe is not outside of you.

Look inside yourself;

everything that you want,

you are already that.”

RUMI

I was eight years old and it was wintertime. We had some old poetry books of Hafiz, Khayyam, Saadi, and Rumi and my sisters used to read it late winter nights during the Taliban period in Mazar. Life was not exciting at that time but Rumi was talking about good things like peace, love, acceptance, kindness, generosity, and positivism. It was something new and really interesting to me as a little girl.

The older I get the more I understand and connect to the strong words of the legends like Rumi. I got the chance to learn more about Maulana and Sufism in 2014 in my literature and poetry classes. He was not only a poet but a Sufi master and a spiritual teacher who could express universal issues beautifully.

Rumi’s poetry has helped me a lot during my journey.  He inspires me when I am hopeless and down, his words give me strength and shows me the light. Here is an example: “what you seek is seeking you”

When you read Rumi’s poetry, its simple but the more you think about it the deeper it gets. I love his words because it’s not only entertaining but the best lessons of life one can learn. “