Afghanistan's love poetry princess
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 3 January 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Poetry about love between a man and a woman was banned by the Taliban in September 2025. For many Afghans, poetry is something which is very much a part of everyday life and has often been passed down in the oral, folk-law tradition. It weaves in and out of conversation effortlessly and is an important way of connecting with one another. In this episode of The Fifth Floor, we discuss one of the most venerated female love poets in Afghan culture – Rabia Balkhi. Rabia wrote her poetry in the 10th century, and the story goes that she fell in love with her brother's servant. When her love poetry for him was discovered, she was imprisoned, but even as she lay dying, she continued to write her poems in her own blood. Her determination to express her true feelings makes her a symbol of inspiration to people, and especially women, in Afghanistan today. We are joined by three BBC Afghan journalists Shekiba Habib, Aalia Farzan and Abdullah Shadan to tell us more about Rabia Balkhi’s story and Afghanistan’s love for poetry.
This episode of The Documentary comes to you from The Fifth Floor, the show at the heart of global storytelling, with BBC journalists from all around the world.
Presented by Faranak Amidi.
Produced by Hannah Dean, Laura Thomas and Caroline Ferguson.
(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.0 | Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:13.8 | You're listening The Fifth Floor. |
| 0:18.1 | The Fifth Floor, you know you're listening. |
| 0:20.0 | The Fifth Floor, Farnak, Amid Isobat. The fifth floor is You're listening. This is the fifth floor, Farnak Amidi, Sobeth. |
| 0:26.7 | This is the fifth floor at the heart of global storytelling |
| 0:31.2 | with BBC journalists from all around the world. |
| 0:35.0 | I'm your host, Faranak Amidi. |
| 0:41.4 | Thank you. from all around the world. I'm your host, Faranak Amity. For many Afghans, poetry is very much a part of everyday life, whether that be in the |
| 0:48.0 | daddy or Pashto language. It weaves in and out of conversation effortlessly and is an |
| 0:54.1 | important way of communicating and connecting with one another. |
| 0:58.6 | The Taliban government issued a new law back in August on regulating poetry, which prohibits writing romantic poetry or poetry between men and women. |
| 1:10.3 | The law states that poetry must be free of imaginary love, |
| 1:15.7 | illicit desires, and inappropriate emotions. In this episode of the fifth floor, I want to learn |
| 1:22.6 | a bit more about Afghanistan's relationship with love poetry and to hear about one of the most venerated |
| 1:29.0 | figures in Afghan culture, Rabia Balchi, known to be the first female poet to write in Persian. |
| 1:36.5 | So I'm delighted to say that I have three very special guests in the studio today with me, |
| 1:42.5 | Alia Farsan and Shakba Habib, both from BBC |
| 1:45.3 | Afghan service, and we welcome back to the show, poet, writer, broadcaster, and former BBC |
| 1:50.6 | language service journalist, Abdulah Shadhan. Everyone, welcome to the fifth floor. It's great to see |
| 1:56.0 | you here. Thank you. Now, before we get started in preparation for this conversation, |
| 2:02.8 | I took a little trip down to the fifth floor where the BBC Afghan colleagues sit, |
... |
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