" I told him I had hoped to understand the Hazara but had only gathered disconnected and puzzling anecdotes. I asked what could explain the Hazara to me. He smiled and put clean blankets on the floor. And when I lay down he removed a bundle from a carved wooden box, kissed it, said a prayer, unwrapped it, and, opening the Koran, read:

"And what can explain the steep path to you?
It is the freeing of a slave,
Or the giving of food in a day of starvation..."

And as I lay wondering who he was, he continued gently:

"Unbeliever, I do not worship what you worship,
Nor do you worship what I worship.
I shall never worship what you worship,
Nor will you ever worship what I worship.
You have your religion and I have mine. "

― Rory Stewart , The Places in Between