“We were raised under Soviet policies. I wish to believe in Allah, but I can’t. I am so old now but I just can’t live without a faith.”

The religious figure said in reply: “If you do not believe in Allah, go bow to your parents’ graves.” Faith has its origins in belief in the parents. Magtymguly also expressed something in the same vein, “Forgive my sins, for the sake of my parents.” Maintain respect for your parents. Allah will forgive you for the sake of your parents, if not for your own sakes.

The Türkmen nation does not know much about the great poet Enweri. I sometimes think:

“Enweri was so happy that he saw the faces of his mother and father once again, and I would also give all that I have to be able to see the faces of my parents.”

The women who knew my mother say, “How dear and affectionate a woman your mother was!” Those who knew my father say, “Saparmyrat, your father was a bold and fearless man. He would help people, and if he couldn’t help others himself, he would try to find others who could. He had such light in his face, he spoke courteous and beautiful words, and he was a man to be heard with joy.”

Thus I saw that what my parents had left for me was more valuable than what the Soltans left to their children. I raised myself to be the proper son that my parents would want me to be.

Stay away from people who hurt their parents. Such people cannot be human. Do not believe in people who do not take care of their parents. Such people will not be of any use to the public and their homeland.

It is not proper to pay the slightest respect to a person who does not take care of his parents. Even Allah’s angels would