How poetry is used by Iranians to predict their fortune

News24xx.com -  The tradition of fortune-telling through the poems of the famous poet Hafez (a practice known as fal-e Hafez) has been practiced in Iran - and in other Persian-speaking places, such as Afghanistan - for centuries.

I walked casually at the foot of the hill in Tehran with my friend Jamshid, and Shirin, the girl he was dating.

A friend of Shirin's just been diagnosed with cancer, and Jamshid and I tried to comfort him, saying that everything would be fine - but it didn't work.

When we walked to one of the places I often visited to drink chai (tea) and ghalyan (shisha in Arabic), we found an old man wrinkled with a canary that perched on a small box full of colored cards.

"Wait," Shirin said to us, walking towards her while taking money from her wallet.

He handed over a piece of money, closed his eyes and held his hands together when the little bird jumped and pulled out a random card with its beak.

When Shirin reads the poem written on the back of the card, a smile appears on her face.

"What did he say?" Jamshid asked him.

"Praise God," Shirin answered with a sigh, reading the opening sentence: "Joseph who is lost will return to Canaan - don't be sad." That means he (his friend) will be fine. "