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Some Sufi Mystics: Objective: The objective of this module is to discuss the works of some select Sufi mystics of and abroad. They are

 Rabia al-Basri  Khayyam  Mawlana  Amir Khusrow   Kabir  Lal Ded  Lalon Shah  Allama

A Brief Overview of : The movement of Sufism began with gnostic attitudes towards the material world. It derived many of its principles from Christian monasticism, Buddhist and Hindu theosophical teachings, Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism. It pivots around the spiritual aspects of our existence over the material. It is more of an individual perception of God without the interference of the religious preachers. Many believe that the term “Sufi” has derived either from the Greek word “Sophia” meaning wisdom or from the word “Soffe” meaning the stone bench outside the mosque at , where the prophets used to sit. It may also refer to the woolen cloak as “Suf” means wool. Sufis mostly belonged to the class of “ulama”, a class of religious scholars, who had concentrated more on human consciousness and inner self rather than on customs and rituals. We can say that are antinomian as they prioritise individual faith more than the religious laws and customs. Even though, it is a part of Islamic religion, it slightly deviates from the rigidity of Islamic school of thought. We can say that the Sufis are Islamic mystics, as they deal with the ideologies of tolerance and inclusive . Sufism emerged at the beginning of the 12th century among the Ulemas with an aim to propagate the doctrines of spiritual liberty, knowledge of Truth, and universal tolerance. According to Lewis, “ itself is an ecumenical religion, teaching that Mohammad, Jesus, Moses, Abraham and the lesser prophets of the Hebrew Bible were all sent by the one true God as successive messengers to mankind ” (Lewis 11). Sufism gained popularity among the scholars and the mass because of its universality, relevance and contemporaneity.

Rabia al-Basri (714/717/718-801):

Rabia al- Basri is considered to be one of the most influential early female Sufi poets from , Iraq. She was born in a very poor family. It is said that her parents did not even have a piece of

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cloth to wrap her. She became a slave afterwards due to poverty. After her work in the household of her master, she used to pray for long hours at night. She is well known for asceticism and piety. Posterity knew her through Farid ud-Din Attar of , who lived about three hundred years later. According to Owen Plugfelder, Rabia also “possessed a degree of autonomy”. He says so because Rabia, in spite of being a slave, lived on her own terms. She never compromised with the yearning of her soul. In a small poem, entitled Love, she refers to cosmic love and talks of surrendering her egoistic “I” consciousness to the Lord.

I have loved Thee with two – a selfish love and a love that is worthy of Thee. As for the love which is selfish, Therein I occupy myself with Thee, to the exclusion of all others. But in the love which is worthy of Thee, Thou dost raise the veil that I may see Thee…

Rabia transcends the duality of her mundane self and talks of union with her lord. In another poem called Reality, she is trying to describe the Lord, who is formless and omnipresent.

… How can you describe the true form of Something In whose presence you are blotted out? And in whose being you still exist? And who lives as a sign for your journey?

The image of the formless lord as described in her poem reminds us of the Upanishadic concept of Brahman. The following example is from the poem entitled, If I Adore You.

If I adore You out of fear of Hell, Burn me in Hell! If I adore you out of desire for Paradise, Lock me out of Paradise. But if I adore you for Yourself alone, Do not deny to me Your eternal beauty.

The message of the poem is extremely important as she is asking humanity to turn to God not as religion imposes this duty on us. People worship God with a belief that they can avoid hell by doing so and can end up in paradise. One should adore the Divine for its eternal beauty. It is remarkable to notice that in spite of being a Muslim woman of the 8th century, she is speaking against the orthodoxy of Islamic religion.

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Omar Khayyam (1148-1131):

Omar Khayyam was one of the most influential figures in medieval Persia because of his contribution in the field of knowledge ranging from mechanics, astronomy, and mathematics to . His poetry is known as Rubaiyat or quatrains. His fame as a poet reached the occidental audience through the translation of Edward FitzGerald (1809-1883).

Rubaiyat: XXX

With them the Seed of wisdom did I sow, And with my own hand labour’d it to grow: And this was all the Harvest that I reap’d— “I came like Water and like Wind I go”. XXXIII: There was the Door to which I found no Key: There was the veil through which I could not see… XXXIV: Then to the rolling heav’n itself I cried, Asking, “What lamp had Destiny to guide Her little children stumbling in the Dark?” XLIV: … Not one returns to tell us of the Road Which to discover we must travel too.

These are some of Khayyam’s verses dealing with the themes of journey, lack of knowledge of Truth and transiency of our existence. Humanity is blinded by the veil of ignorance and is groping in the dark. The knowledge of truth is experiential. Each will have to experience on his own to reach the summit. In other verses, we find the images of “potter”, “clay population” and “saki”. Khayyam metaphorically says that God is a potter, who gives us a shape. He refers to humanity as “clay population” because we return to dust after our work is over. “Wine’ is also an important and recurring image in his verses. The image of wine is associated with a kind of divine ecstasy. The image of “saki” has also been used at some places. In verse LVI, Khayyam refers to the cup-bearer as ‘eternal saki’. Khayyam was popularly regarded as a hedonist but the images of wine, garden, music, moonlight and tavern were used by him metaphorically to indicate something of transcendental kind. Each rubaiyat is an epigram expressing the poet’s insight, wisdom and perception of Truth.

Mawlana Rumi (1207-1273):

Mawlana Rumi was a Sufi poet of the 13th century. His father, Bahâ al-Din was a scholar and a religious preacher. Rumi grew up in an environment of scholasticism. Baha al-Din wanted Rumi to take up his profession of mofti (Religious Preacher). Gradually, Rumi acquired a mastery over Hanafi Law, Koran, Hadith and , which led him to resume his father’s position. In spite

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of being a Sufi, he was quite respectful to other schools of thought. Rumi’s fame primarily rests on his poetry. His poems are collected in two books entitled the Divân-e Shams and the . The former one is a collection of short lyric poems and the latter is a narrative poem dealing with Rumi’s Islamic theosophy. Apart from these two, Rumi’s lectures and letters were published by his disciples. Rumi also composed a large number of rubaiyats, which were published separately in an edition entitled Robâiyât-e Mowlânâ Jalâl al-Din containing 1,642 quatrains. As a Sufi mystic, Rumi was fond of practising ceremony. The practice of sama involves the use of poems and music to induce a meditative mood, which helps the listeners to concentrate on God. Such was the Sufi mode of worship and Rumi found it a means of expressing his mystic utterances. Here is an example from poem 17 from Rumi’s lyric poems as compiled by Franklin D. Lewis.

Didn’t I tell you:

Don’t go over there, for I am the one who knows you; In this mirage of annihilation, I am your source of life; And if in anger for a million years You run from me, in the end you will return to me for I am your destination. (Lewis 355)

Here Rumi is referring to the transmigratory journey of the soul in us. It passes from one body to another even if the body gets annihilated. The message of the quoted lines is that the objective of our existence is that we have to return to our essential being. The anaphora of “I” reminds us of the verses in The Gita. The “I” consciousness of his lyric is our essential being, whom all the mystics search for through their songs and poems.

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Amir Khusrow (1253-1325)

Amir Khusrow was a medieval Sufi poet, musician and scholar from Patiyali, UP. He was also the inventor of certain musical instruments like the sitar and tabla. Apart from these, he also had interest in rhyme scheme and metre. He composed poetry in Persian and Hindavi or the Hindustani. Hindavi language was popular among the contemporary mass in north India during the Mughal Empire. Hindavi incorporated a large number of words from Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic and Chagatai*.The modern Hindi and Urdu languages had evolved from this historically known Hindavi language. Khusrow is also known as the father of qawaali, the devotional music of the Sufis. As a Sufi scholar and poet, he always upheld the doctrines of humanism and all-encompassing love, which culminated into a love for the Divine, who is not someone formless and immanent, but a legendary Sufi saint called Nizamuddin Auliya (1238-13250). The reference to Nizamuddin is quite frequent in his lyrics. Time and again, we see that his love for temporal aspects of life ends in deep reverence towards Pir Nizam. The yellow mustard is blooming in every field, Mango buds are clicking open, other flowers too; The koyal chirps from branch to branch, And the maiden tries her make-up, The gardener-girls have brought bouquets. Colourful flowers of all kinds, In hands everyone's bringing; But Aashiq-rung (the lover), who had promised to come To Nizamuddin's house in spring, Hasn't turned up - its been years. The yellow mustard is blooming in every field. In the above quoted poem we see that his fascination for the aspects of Nature turns into a mystic quest for his spiritual master. Again, in some other lyrics of Khusrow we find a combination of Vaishnavism and Shaktism. What a glow everywhere I see, Oh mother, what a glow; I’ve found the beloved, yes I found him, In my courtyard; I have found my pir Nizamuddin Aulia. I roamed around the entire world, looking for an ideal beloved; And finally this face has enchanted my heart. The whole world has been opened for me, Never seen a glow like this before. Whenever I see now, he is with me, Oh beloved, please dye me in yourself;

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Dye me in the colour of the spring, beloved; What a glow, Oh, what a glow. Here we see that the poet calls his mother to inform that he found his beloved, who is none but his guru Nizam and he identifies himself as a woman earnestly pining for her beloved’s love. We can relate it to “Radha principle of Vaishnavism. Khusrow embraces the Radha principle and at the same time he is aware of the force of the Mother of Tantric cult. We can conclude that in spite of being a Sufi mystic, he was very much aware of the certain principles of Vedic religion.

Hafez (1325/26-1389/90): Hafez was a Persian poet belonging to the 14th century. However, there are controversies relating to the dates of his birth and death. Hafez mostly composed and rubaiyat. , as we know, deals with the themes of love, the incomparable beauty of the beloved, the pains of separation, the rare pleasure of union, and the grievous disdain of the beloved. Hafez’s ghazals also reflect the similar themes along with the image of wine as the leitmotif of them. Whereas in rubaiyat, we see a different facet of his personality. Let me quote examples from his ghazal and rubaiyat.

(Ghazal) ...I paid no heed, worldly affairs I forsake It is for your beauty, beauty of the world I partake. My heart is on fire, I am restless and awake To the tavern to cure my hundred day headache. My bleeding heart has left its mark in the temple You have every right to wash my body in a wine lake. In the abode of the Magi, I am welcome because The fire that never dies, in my heart is awake. What was the song the minstrel played? My life is gone, but breathing, I still fake! Within me last night, the voice of your love did break Hafiz’s breast still quivers and shakes for your sake.

(Rubaiyat-16) This rose is from the dust of one like me. His joy within the rose, thus I can see. My companion and confidant it is, because The colourful rose brings the sweet scent of he.

One can see some striking expressions like “worldly affairs I forsake”, the “fire that never dies, in my heart is awake” and the rose , which brings in the memory of “he”, who is the Divine or his personal lord. The image of “fire” in the heart indicates the essence of our being as

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described in the Vedic scriptures. Apart from “rose” and “fire”, the image of “wine” is also one of the key symbols in Hafez’s poetry. If we notice carefully, we see that by the image of “wine” Hafez refers to the “divine soma” of Vedic literature. “Soma” does not mean an ordinary intoxicant. It is something, which produces ultimate happiness, peace, relaxation and joy, when one drinks it. In order to get the essence of “Soma”, the body should have to be prepared to accept it. In the context of Hafez’s poetry, it is a regenerative symbol. The poet persona wishes to wash himself in the lake of wine to renew his consciousness. Like a true mystic, he knew that our ultimate joy lies in renunciation of mundane affairs and our human love gradually evolves to Godward emotion by our progressive awareness of the cosmic order. His themes of ghazal and rubaiyat deal with the transcendental aspects of our existence.

Lal Ded (1320-1392):

Lal Ded or Lal Arifa or Lalleshwari was a mystic poet belonging to the Kashmiri Shaivite sect and she was a Sufi saint as well. She pioneered a tradition of mystic poetry called Vatsun or Vāks, meaning 'speech'. Her poetry is often referred to as “Lal Vāks”. Her verses are the earliest compositions in the Kashmiri language. Lalleshwari was born in a Kashmiri Pandit family. She was married at the age of twelve, but she was not happy and she left home at twenty-four to be a sannyasi (nun, who renounces worldly pleasure) and became a disciple of the Shaivite guru Siddha Srikantha (Sed Bayu)*. She is regarded as one of the cult figures of “non-dual Kashmir Shaiva tradition”. Prof. M.L. Koul believes she is the forerunner of Bhakti Tradition in India. But she is also a Sufi mystic as her poetry projects the elements of Sufism. But there is a lot of controversy regarding her affiliation to Sufism.

According to Shernaz Wadia, Lalla had a profound impact on both Hindus and . She urged people to rise above caste, creed and colour and see the light within (Wadia 2010).

Ex-1 Shiva is all-pervading and present in each particle. Never differentiate between a Hindu and a Muslim. If you are shrewd and intelligent, know THY SELF. There lies acquaintance with god. Ex-II I searched for my Self until I grew weary,

but no one, I know now, reaches the hidden knowledge by means of effort.

Then, absorbed in "Thou art This," I found the place of Wine.

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There all the jars are filled, but no one is left to drink.

The first example of her poetry expresses the principle of harmonious existence. She is urging humanity to look inward to know the Self inside. In the second example, she refers to the image of Self again with a motif of search. Her quest for the Divine seated inside culminates into the image of wine, which is a symbol of . She finds the jars of wine. She says metaphorically that none is left to drink. By which she means to say that humanity is not yet ready to experience the divine ecstasy. Her fame as a poet was in oblivion till “…Muhammad Azam Dedamari refers to her as “ārifā-kāmilā Lalla” in his Wāqiāt-i-Kaśmīr as late as in 1746. Earlier, Dawood Mishqati had mentioned her name in his hagiographical work Asrār-ul-Abrār (1654). But what is forgotten is the first, the very first, reference to her is by Rūpa Bhavānī (1620-1720), who in her Rahasyopadeśa very clearly acknowledges Lal Ded as her guru…” (S.S. Toshkhani 2007).

Kabir (1399 -1518):

The history of Kabir’s birth is shrouded in mystery. But the critics agree on one point that he was the adopted son of a Muslim weaver from Benares. However, he was born in a Hindu family and later he was abandoned by them. Kabir was the disciple of the religious reformer, Ramananda, who had introduced the doctrines of Ramanuja in North India. Both Ramanuja and Ramananda advocated the principle of personal devotion or Bhakti tradition against the orthodox Brahmanism (Underhill 5). Under the mentorship of Ramananda, Kabir used to participate in theological and philosophical arguments with the contemporary Hindu and Muslim scholars, which gradually made him aware of both the Sufi and Hindu trends. He was never an ascetic. He did not wish to retire from the world pervaded with love, beauty and joy. As a weaver by profession, he combined “vision and industry; the work of his hands helped rather than hindered the impassioned meditation of his heart” (Underhill 13). This is the integral philosophy of Sri Aurbindo, who, time and again, asks humanity to combine Matter with spirit.

Kabir’s poems, known as doha depict a wide range of mystical emotions: ‘from the loftiest abstractions, the most other-worldly passion for the Infinite, to the most intimate and personal realization of God, expressed in homely and religious symbols drawn indifferently from Hindu and Mohammedan belief. It is impossible to say that their author that he was Brāhman or Sūfī, Vedantist or Vaishnavite. He is, as he says himself, “at once the child of Allah and of Ram”. The Supreme Spirit whom he knew and adored, and to whose joyous friendship he sought to induct the souls of other men’ (9). This was the era, when the poetry of Attar, Sadi, Rumi and Hafez exerted a strong influence on the Indian cultural scene. But Kabir had a synthetic vision of God. He reconciled the Sufi thought with Bhakti tradition. He mostly composed in Avadhi, Braj and Bhojpuri languages. In the following examples from ’s translation of Kabir’s poems, we witness how Sufism is fused with the message of the Gita and the other scriptures of ancient India.

Ex: 1 …I am neither in Kabba nor in Kailash

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Neither am I in rites and ceremonies, Nor in Yoga… If thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at once see Me… God is the breath of all breath. (47) Ex:2 Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus, and there gaze on the Infinite Beauty. (50) Ex: 3 …I have had my Seat on the Self-poised One, I have drunk of the Cup of the Ineffable I have found the key of the Mystery, I have reached the Root of Union The inward and the outward are become as one sky, the Infinite and the finite are united: I am drunken with the sight of this All! (70)

Kabir is an integral seer. By virtue of his synthetic approach, he combines both the introvertive and the extrovertive approaches to . The images of lotus and Kailash are fused with wine and drunkenness. Kabir is drunk in the ecstasy of Godward emotion, which transcends him beyond cast and creed. In the words of Evelyn Underhill, Kabir reconciles the Mohammedan mysticism with the traditional theology of Brāhminism (7).

Lalon Shah (1774-1890):

Lalon Shah is a Bengali baul saint, song writer and a mystic. Not much is known about his lineage. Different anecdotes relating to his life confirm that he was brought up by a Muslim family. He was going on a pilgrimage to Puri to visit the temple of Lord Jagannath. Meanwhile, he contracted chicken pox and he was lying on the bank of Kaliganga river, from where Malam Shah and his wife rescued him and he remained with them the rest of his life. He did not receive any formal education. He did not even write his songs. All his songs had been transmitted orally from generation to generation. The members of Rabindranath Tagore’s family used to visit him from time to time. Jyotirindranath Tagore had sketched a portrait of Lalon. In fact, that is the only portrait of Lalon available with the present generation. Lalon is regarded to be the founder of baul music. Bauls are mystic minstrels of Bangladesh and West Bengal.

Ex: 1 I have not seen her even once-- my neighbor who lives in the city of mirrors near my house.

Her village is surrounded by deep boundless waters, and I have no boat to cross over. I long to see her,

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but how can I reach her village?

What can I say about my neighbor? She has no hands, no feet, no shoulders, no head. Sometimes she floats high up in the sky, sometimes in the water.

Ex: 2 When will I be united with the Man of my Heart?...

I caught a glimpse of my Dark Lord in a dream, and then he was gone like a flash of lightning vanishing into the cloud it came from, leaving no trace. Ex: 3 Everyone wonders, "What's Lalon faith?" Lalon says, "I've never ' seen' the face of Faith with these eyes of mine!"

In the quoted examples, we find a mystic’s quest for his personal god. The poet is referring to the Cosmic Feminine through his personal symbol of the moon. The poet wishes to be united with his lord seated deep in his psyche, who is visible momentarily like a flash of lightening. The poet persona yearns for him everywhere. For Lalon, religion, caste and creed are non-existent. He is considered to be an iconic figure of religious tolerance. Rabindranath Tagore and Allen Ginsberg are two notable poetic successors of Lalon. We know about Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian noble laureate for his poetry. Allen Ginsberg is a famous American Beat poet of the 1950s, who spoke against the establishment.

Allama Iqbal (1877-1938):

Iqbal was a poet, politician and philosopher in British India. His ancestors were descendants of Kashmiri Pandits but they had to convert to Islam during the partition. He received his Ph.D. degree in1908 from Germany for his work on the development of Persian metaphysics. He was extremely fond of Rumi’s poetry and the . He had composed almost twelve thousand verses, out of which seven thousand verses were written in Persian. His major works include Asrar-e-Khudi (Secrets of the Self), Rumuz-e-Bekhudi (Hints of Selflessness) and Asrar- e-Rumuz (Hinting Secrets). Iqbal was popularly known as the “Poet of the East” by the academicians across the globe. Critics like Dr. Masoom Yasinzai commented, “Iqbal is not a

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poet of the east only… he is for the entire humanity”. Image of “Self” is a dominant motif in Iqbal’s poetry. Iqbal explains the philosophy of “self” or ‘khudi” as “rooh”. Rooh is the divine spark in human being. He also says that one needs to transform his psyche to realise the divinity in a man. The poem entitled “A Prayer”, indicates the poet’s longing for God. The poet grows restless to have a glimpse of the face of God. The images of “liquor” is associated with the grace of God. In “The Cloud on the Mountain”, we see the poet persona merging with the cloud like a mystic. He becomes one with the spirit of the cloud spreading over the horizon. Apparently, it seems to be a Nature lyric. But a closer look at it shows how the anaphora of “I” creates an incantatory effect of a hymn. The egoistic I-consciousness of the poet merges with every aspect of the cosmos.

I am the hope of the freshly grown field’s verdure I am the ocean’s offspring, I am nourished by the sun… I charmed the birds into thrilling chants…

This Nature lyric is an example of cosmic consciousness. The poet embraces the cosmos with love and joy. Then there is a departure from the external world to the inner zone of his psyche and he finds his master within.

The one I was searching for on the earth and in heaven Appeared residing in the recesses of my own heart…

Iqbal’s contribution as Sufi poet is immense as he revives the Sufism for the 20th century audience. The Sufi principles in fact propagate liberal humanism.

Conclusion

One may conclude by saying that the principles of Sufism are complimentary to the doctrines of the ancient Vedic scriptures. A Sufi saint and a Vedantist are no way different from one another in their respective approaches to life. Both of them believe in individualism, humanism and spirituality without the intervention of the priests. For a Sufi mystic, the mosque is not the only place to realise the presence of Almighty. A Sufi is also a pantheist like the British Romantic poets. We can also say that Sufism is the essence of Islamic religion as it is away from orthodoxies, customs and rites. It liberates the individuals from the shackles of conventions. Individual freedom helps one to be withdrawn to realise the “Self” in us. The study of Sufism is extremely relevant in the present context as the fundamental principles of Sufism are love and tolerance, which can bring in unity and peace in this terror-stricken world.

References:

Fitzgerald, Edward, [ http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam/ ]

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Lewis, Franklin D. Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalâl al- Din Rumi. England: Oneworld Publications, 2007 Plugfelder, Owen. http://globalconnections.champlain.edu/2014/12/05/she-wrote-the-world-love- poems-the-work-of-rabia-al-basri/ [ Blog ] Tagore, Rabindranath. Songs of Kabir. [Introd and assistance by Evelyn Underhill] London: Macmillan and Co, 1915

Toshkhani, S.S. “Spiritual Journey of Lal Ded”, floated on 24/10/2007 [http://heritagekashmir.blogspot.in/2007/10/spiritual-journey-of-lal-ded.html] Wadia, Shernaz, “Lal Ded: The Yogini”, floated on 11/07/2010 [http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=9892]

https://sufipoetry.wordpress.com/category/rabia-al-basri/ [all the three quoted poems of Rabia – al Basri are available here] http://www.humanistictexts.org/omar_khayyam.htm [More on Khyyam] http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/amir-khusro/the-yellow-mustard-is-blooming/ [poem by Khusrow “The Yellow Mustard is blooming] https://www.scribd.com/doc/44286695/amir-khusro-poetry [A coolection of Khusrow’s poetry in English translation] http://www.hafizonlove.com/divan/01/022.htm [translation of Hafez’s Ghazal 22] http://www.hafizonlove.com/divan/rubaiyat/2.htm [English Translation of Rubaiyat of Hafez] http://www.parabaas.com/translation/database/translations/poems/lalon_carol3.html [translation of Lalon’s songs can be obtained from this link] http://www.poetrynook.com/poem/cloud-mountain [English Translation of Iqbal’s Poem] http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-one-i-was-searching-for-on-the-earth-and-in-heaven/ [Translation of Iqbal’s poem in English]

**http://www.poemhunter.com/lalleshwari/biography/ [ One can have more information on Sed Bayu here]

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