The Ray of Hope (Shawwal 1432 = Aug-Sep 2011)

‫م‬ ِ ِ‫حنِالرِحِی‬ ِ‫سمِللاِالرِ م‬ ِ ِ‫ب‬

Vol.4 No.1

Shawwal 1432 A.H.

Noamaan Bader Nadvi Qasmi

Chief Editor:

Shamsul Islam

Editors:

The Ray of Hope

Sub-Editors:

Aug-Sep 2011

Md Azmi

Shawwal 1432

Mohd Younus 1

Talibe Khalid Aug-Sep 2011 Syed Husamuddin

Click on the pictures below to move to the corresponding article

Quran Commentary P 3

The Society Cries for a Change P14

Hadith Lesson P 6

Toiling Sister

P 16

sabeelussalam.wordpress.com scribd.com/musarhad docstoc.com/profile/musarhad

And the of Camel The Ray Hope is Back! P10Shawwal 1432

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ِ ِ ‫وَ​َل تَحسب َّن اللَّوَ غَافِ اًل َع َّما ي عمل الظَّالِمو َن إِنَّما ي َؤخِّرىم لِي وٍم تَ ْش َخ‬ .‫ار‬ َ ْ‫ص فيو ْاْلَب‬ َْ ْ ُ​ُ ُ َ َ​َ ْ َ ُ ُ ُ‫ص‬ ُ َ َْ

Never think that Allah is unaware of what the wrongdoers are doing. He is just giving them respite up to a day when the eyes shall remain upraised (in terror). (The Holy Quran 14:42)

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n fact, Allah is ever-watchful, recording all the misdeeds of the tyrant to punish him collectively for his sins. He will not escape the punishment of even a minor misdeed of his. A great comfort to the oppressed of the world and a dire threat to the tyrant, g

respite to tyrants. No doubt, Allah sometimes gives abundance of worldly wealth, high public status and military power to the Disbelievers and the tyrants. And this lures them into believing that Allah is pleased with them. But the fact is that it is only a short respite

strikes them to their utmost, unending torment. The punishment of the Hereafter is so grievous and so unbearable that they deserve to be given more and more time to think and ponder.

At the same time the reward of the Hereafter for the Believing oppressed people is so supremely high that the heaviest mountain of hardship in this world would appear as light as a feather when a glimpse of the immense bliss of the Hereafter makes its appearance before them.

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He would be the most ignorant who ignores this intrinsic truth and falls into the misconception that Allah will let the tyrant free without any punishment, or His leniency will manifest itself in injustice to the oppressed and forgiveness for the oppressor. No, duties

never! The oppressor does

towards Him, he also tramples the rights of hundreds and in some cases millions and

obstruction for their agony-filled wails and their Lord. How can one ever imagine that each of these helpless thousands or millions too, without exception, would be forgiving and lenient towards the transgressor. This is a stupidity which knows no parallels.

The verse is also addressed to the holy Prophet: O Prophet! Never think that Allah is . Can the infallible, holy Prophet ever think so? No, not at all. Yet the matter is so important, avoiding such a thought is so crucial that even he who can never lapse into it has been commanded to keep away from this.

The verse then mentions the start of their ultimate punishment. Many a times, Allah does punish the wrongdoer in this world to comfort the hearts of the weak and to wipe ْ َ‫َﻉﻝ‬ ‫ﻱ ِﻩ ﺍﻝﺱ ََّ​َلﻡ‬

days got punished and

his mighty army benefited him nothing. The dreaded and hated Pharaoh of this Ummah Abu Jahl too was found wriggling in blood and pain in the field of Badr. The invincible, , the proper time for their complete reckoning is not this world. These things take place only as a foreboding of the grimmer reality awaiting them. A glimpse of the first day of this grim and grievous torment is shown in the second part of this verse.

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It will be a day when horror and dread would be on an altogether different level. The trumpet of the Last Day would be blown and on account of the terror it would evoke, even the youth will become white-haired. Mothers will forsake their beloved babies and pe -blow would be so severe, then what to say of the punishment itself. A person inquisitively looking towards the source of this horror would be so terror-struck that his open eyes would remain wide open even much

The horror-struck men and women would be rushing to a destination as if in a race. Oh, , a sport of joy and cheer. In fact it would be just the opposite, a race towards doom and never-ending torment.

In all of this there is enough lesson for anyone having even an iota of thinking mind. May Allah keep us in the shadow of His Mercy on the day when all loud roars and thunders would be reduced to whispers! May Allah protect us from all sins and minor and major forms of tyranny in this world and from all kinds of torments in the Hereafter! Amen!



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.ٍ‫فَ ًَلة‬

ِ ِ​ِ ِ ِ ِ ُ ‫ال رس‬ ِ‫سر‬ ِ ‫َضلَّوُ فِي أ َْر‬ ‫ض‬ َ َ‫ض َي اللَّوُ عَنْوُ ق‬ َ ‫َح ِد ُك ْم َس َق‬ َ ‫ط َعلَى بَعِي ِرِه َوقَ ْد أ‬ ُ َ َ َ‫ ق‬:‫ال‬ َ ٍ َ‫عَ ْن أَن‬ َ ‫ح بِتَ ْوبَة َع ْبده م ْن أ‬ ُ ‫ اللَّوُ أَفْ َر‬:‫ول اللَّو َصلَّى اللَّوُ عَلَ ْيو َو َسلَّ َم‬

Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His slave than anyone of you is pleased with finding his camel which he had lost in the desert.

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story And the Camel is Back!

How glad he is! In His infinite Mercy, Allah too tells us through His noble Prophet ْ َ‫ﺹﻝَّﻯ هللا َﻉﻝ‬ ‫ﺱﻝَّ َﻥ‬ َ ‫ﻱ ِﻩ َﻭ‬ َ that he is more pleased with a repenting servant than Najeed. Of

Allah who has every right to punish severely a servant who forgets His incessant bounties and shamelessly disobeys Him in His watchful presence, is also Very Merciful. His mercy knows no bounds. So, He not only allows his sinning servant lots of time to return to good ways, He even expresses His happiness over it. Allah extends His hand to embrace a repentor throughout the night so that the sinner of the day might return to contrition.

Similarly He extends His hand throughout the day to welcome a remorseful servant who got misled by Satan the previous night. How doomed and ruined that person would be who still does not repent!

However, there is a general lack of awareness about the essence of repentance.

Repentance is not merely repeating certain formulas a fixed number of times. It involves a

1

Bukhari 5834, EQ 5955

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complete change of heart which is very difficult to achieve in a moment. At times it can even be a long-term process. So, it is never too early to begin. The sooner the better.

There are certain conditions which must be satisfied for repentance to be accepted. If the repentance is meant to gain an honorable position in an Islamic society, it is of no use. If it is on account of fear of the Qazi or the Ameer, then too it is futile. The only purpose of repentance should be earning His pleasure and escaping His wrath.

contrition, a sense of shame and embarrassment at the sin.

A good example is a Kafir who becomes a Muslim and then Allah bestows him with a taste of the sweetness of this noble

Conditions for Repentance

A true repentance involves

Sincerity, only for Allah's sake Contrition Stop the sin at once Resolve never to repeat Before the time of non-acceptance

state such that he detests returning to Disbelief as strongly as he would dislike being thrown into fire. Certainly, a person who

missing a few compulsory Salahs is not a serious offence cannot be a true repentor.

A boy is guilty of having hair like a Bollywook Kafir, a leader to Hell. A girl has been in the habit of going out without a veil. He (or she) listens to a speech from a pious maulana and feels regretful for the act. What should be his course of action now? At once, without any delay, the misdeed should stop. The girl should cover her face and entire body

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suitably, and the boy should do away with the symbol of the guide to Hell, the beastly hair-style. The sin, if it is a continuous one or if he is engaged in it at present, must stop immediately. If the person has many missed Salahs, he must at once start offering Salahs regularly, and start offering Qaza Salahs. If he has cheated somebody or stolen his property, he must return him his property. If he beat up somebody unlawfully, he must ask the oppressed to take his recompense by beating him in a similar manner. If he has engaged in slander against somebody or used offensive language against him, he should try to please the other person through gifts etc. till the oppressed forgives him. Then only repentance will be beneficial for him.

What if the person repents and the next evening he is back watching his favorite TV program? If his repentance had been true, the last time he watched a television program in his life would have been an occasion before this repentance. Satan does sometimes misguide one into believing that I would do it just this time and then repent and never repeat. It is a severe trap. The sinner this way persists in his sin and us all

May Allah protect

never gets the chance of true repentance. So, the time is now! Stop at once and

resolve never to return. This resolve is the main thing. It should be pure, strong, sincere and earnest. If despite true resolve, he fails to keep it in future, then Allah, the Merciful, may forgive him, but if he repents without such a resolve it might even amount to making fun of Allah, the Almighty! It is like a naughty schoolboy making a very sincere-looking promise to his school teacher never to miss his homework, while in his heart he says, !

of His holy Prophet

or of any of the well-known symbols of Islam is Kufr which leads one to eternal

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punishment of Hell. Allah may forgive any sin but never the sin of Kufr and Shirk, the opposite of Islam.

And there is a last date for repentance too. It must be offered duly, properly, sincerely well before the last date after which there is no extension, not even with a heavy late fine.

When death approaches a servant of Allah, His repentance is rejected. Allah says: Repentance is not (acceptable) for those who do evil deeds, until when the time of death nor for those who die while they are still Disbelievers. For them We have prepared a painful punishment. 2

Other than this individual time limit, there is a general time limit with respect to the entire humanity. When the sun rises from the west, one of the great signs of the imminent approach of the Last Day, all the Disbelievers on the earth will believe3, but no faith nor repentance will be acceptable then. Allah the Glorious says: The day some signs of your Lord will come, the believing of a person shall be of no use to him who had not believed before, or had not earned some good (reward for virtuous deeds) through his faith. 4 The holy

turns to him with Mercy .5

 ُ ‫ﺕﻭﻥَ َﻭ ُﻩ ْﻡ‬ ُ ‫ﻱ ُﻡﻭ‬ ُ ‫ﺕﻕَ ﺍ َﻝ ﺇِﻥِّﻱ‬ َّ َ‫ﺕ ﺡ‬ َّ ‫ﺕ ﺍﻝ‬ ُ ‫ﺏ‬ ُ ‫ﺕﻯ ﺇِ َﺫﺍ ﺡَﺽَﺭَ ﺃَﺡَ َﺩ ُﻩ ُﻡ ﺍﻝْ ﻡ َْﻭ‬ َ‫ﻱ‬ ‫ﻙ ﺃَﻉْﺕَﺩْ َﻥﺍﻝَ ُﻩ ْﻡ ﻉ َ​َﺫﺍﺏًﺍ ﺃَﻝِﻱ ﻡًﺍ‬ ‫ﻙ‬ ْ‫ﺕ‬ ِّ ‫ﺱ‬ َّ ‫ﻱ ْﻉ َﻡﻝُﻭﻥَ ﺍﻝ‬ ْ َ‫َﻭﻝ‬ ِ ‫ﺉﺍ‬ ِ ‫ﺱ‬ َ ِ‫ﻑَّﺍ ٌﺭ ﺃُﻭﻝَﺉ‬ َ َ‫ﺕ ْﺍْلﻥَ َﻭ َ​َل ﺍﻝَّ ِﺫﻱﻥ‬ َ َ‫ﺏ ُﺓﻝِﻝَّ ِﺫﻱﻥ‬ َ ‫ﺕ ْﻭ‬ َ ‫ﻱ‬ (Quran 4:18) 3 .‫( ال تقوم الساعة حىت تطلع الشمس من مغرهبا فإذا طلعت من مغرهبا آمن الناس كلهم أمجعون‬The (Last) Hour shall not come till the sun rises from the place of its setting. On the day when it rises from the place of its setting, all the people together shall affirm their faith. Muslim 226, EQ 7535) 2

ِ ‫{ ي وم يأِِْت ب عض آي‬Quran 6:158} .‫ت ِ​ِف إِميَ ِاِنَا َخْي ًرا‬ ْ ‫ت ِم ْن قَ ْب ُل أ َْو َك َسَب‬ ْ َ‫ك َال يَْن َف ُع نَ ْف ًسا إِميَانُ َها َ​َلْ تَ ُك ْن َآمن‬ َ ِّ‫ات َرب‬ َ ُ ْ َ َ َ َْ 5 ِ ِ .‫اب اللَّهُ َعلَْيه‬ ْ ‫اب قَ ْب َل أَ ْن تَطْلُ َع الش‬ َ َ‫( َم ْن ت‬Muslim 4872, EQ 13991) َ َ‫س م ْن َم ْغ ِرِهبَا ت‬ ُ ‫َّم‬

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ajeed would never forget this trip to Syria. He was alone enjoying the new

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freedom of movement and safety as he traveled without a companion other than his loyal camel in the vast Arabian deserts.

ten years back, the advent of Islam had done a miracle. The unprecedented security and safety on the routes which used to be infested with robbers and bandits had led several adventuring youths to risk such long lonely journeys. Najeed was one of them.

As he calculated in his mind how his profits added up to 33,000 dirhams in a short span of one month, he wondered if his parents and uncles would believe him. Or will they suspect him of doing something unlawful, of bringing Al the family, of polluting the bodies of the people in the household with unlawful earning.

Or will they welcome him with big, fragrant garlands and large smiling faces complimenting him on his intelligence and business acumen; and at dinner, present before him his favorite pumpkin stew. His younger, naughty sister Sadeedah, 9, would rebuked by some family-elder.

And what about the virtuous the oasis. He had heard of her piety, her beauty, her bashfulness. It was famous in the village that she would veil her face even from the moon. No man had ever seen her youthful face. Now he has enough with him to pay as mahr (dower) to his fiancĂŠe about

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whom all women of the tribe agreed that the desert had not seen a face more innocent,

The sun was now close to the zenith. The beautiful memories could not prod his camel to move fast. Time and again, the camel would slow down or turn back its head towards the master as if reminding him of something. He knew the signal. He should now stop at the nearest shade of an acacia tree or any wild bush. He certainly could not dream of an oasis in the near vicinity. He had found none till now, though he had been travelling nonstop right from the Fajr time.

Lying under a half-grown acacia tree of his choice, he happily observed his camel chewing the thorny leaves of the nearby tree to which it was tied. The camel was healthy, well-built, one of the strongest among its kind and faster than many others in his tribe.

But for this loyal friend he could never have dreamt of undertaking this 600-kilometer did

long journey alone. He wanted to reach his home as quickly as possible,

not unburden the camel of the large bags of water, dates, other food items and his belongings. He wanted to take rest only for ten minutes, then offer the Zuhr prayer, and then jump back to his camel.

The shadows were much longer than he expected. As he rubbed his sleepy eyes with his palm to chase away the sleep, he knew that his ten-minute nap had elongated to a sound sleep of three-four hours. Anyway, he would now perform ablution, offer Zuhr prayer and continue with his travel.

All of a sudden his half-sleepy eyes became wideb

no, no,

-drops appeared on his forehead. Ending his

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happy dreams, he found himself now in mortal danger. No, it was not a bandit, nor a giant snake, nor a pack of beasts. It was not an unexpected appearance of something but an unthinkable absence which had placed his life in danger. His dear camel, his lovely friend, his inseparable mate was nowhere to be seen in this desert where he had not found a trace of water for more than thirty kilometers in his travel from Fajr till now.

What should he do? Should he cry out loud? Perhaps some passerby would hear him. probability was infinitesimal. The smiling, exuberant cheers of his family and friends had now unceremoniously transformed into inconsolable wails and cries as they went near and far in search of Sadeed. In the world of his dreams, never had a pitch, dark night followed a bright day of spring so instantaneously. The light breeze seemed to take away his remaining life-breaths one by one, slowly and slowly.

He tried to be courageous. He shook his head violently to force away the gloomy thoughts, and try his last to save his life, to search for water, to look for some human settlement or caravan. Three hours of running and dashing, sprinting and climbing later, he was again at his starting place under the acacia tree. He had not found even a fly or mosquito. He lay down on his sheet over the ground once again this time in dejection, having lost all hope.

He would lie down, wrap himself in the sheet like a shroud, he thought. He imagined his death, his loneliness, worried searches of his tribesmen and finally their loss of hope. He did wish to see the holy Prophet in the other world, the be all and end all of his heart.

But he could not imagine his family-members in this state of sorrow. Had he died in a

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holy war under an Ameer, it would have been another matter. His martyrdom would have brought pride and honor to his father, mother and his bride-to-be. As his mind veered towards the unseen paragon of bashfulness, his valiant heart could not stop him from sobbing. In the midst of all these terrible thoughts, he fell into a dream.

A camel with all the victuals and belongings was bellowing loudly, frighteningly. But the long bellow did not frighten him. His mind was on something else. He knew it was a dream. But still to make it doubly certain, he pinched his arm. It pained! Strange! His forehead, it hurt too. He checked his surroundings. Everything indicated it was for real.

You are my servant, I am Your lord!!

There was nobody there to correct his blunder. Thus he continued as if mad with joy.

Waking from his second nap at this very location, he found his camel close to him. The happy memories were back as the camel with Najeed over it paced quickly towards home.

Every step of the camel was now a promotion in his happiness rank. As he moved towards his destination in sync with the sun setting to its resting place, he wondered if the red, beautiful sun would have any resemblance to the daughter of Ubayyid, his brideto-

uld be like the beaming, smiling,

rising sun, certainly not like the setting sun!

ď‚Żď‚Żď‚Ż

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P

eace - something which every person in the world is craving for. Be he a husband, a wife, a father, a mother, a businessman, a shopkeeper, a teenager anyone. All they want in their life is peace. And since a human has been given

intellect, he uses this ability to find peace. Man does so many things to attain peace. He goes to midnight clubs, he spends his time in brothels, he listens to music, he goes on dates and so much more. Why? Ask any one of them and the answer will be - to be happy. The Westerners say that they are happy and enjoy life. So, if they do, why are they doing all these things 'which supposedly make a person happy'. If they are in a sea of happiness, then why do all this? They lie to themselves. And so does most of humanity today. They listen to music, move their bodies like unthinking animals, and at the end of it think and force themselves to feel happy because they have done something which the television guarantees will give happiness.

Man is a toiling creature. He is in toil in this world. To get peace is his ultimate goal.

The Indian sub-continent is no different from

different. Why does a person want to earn â‚š10,000 every month? Why does a person want to be a womanizer? Why does a person do drugs? They do this because 'they think' that each one of those will lead to a happy life. If it does, why isn't a person who has already reached these goals happy? Why? Strange that even then other human beings follow suit on their footsteps.

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Human beings are so complex creatures that even till today science has not been able to fully understand how we function. Or for that matter, even why we sleep. We, as humans, can try to find a way of life which will give us peace, by ourselves. That is what the West is trying to do even till today (and we are following suit). We may get happiness for some time, but eventually, we do not get peace or satisfaction. Generally speaking, we can have a look at the lives of the people in those countries.

Let's stop for a second and think about this

suppose people did not know what a

computer was or how it worked. A person invented it and asked you to use it. Would you be able to? You wouldn't even know how to start it. Even if you figured that out after several attempts, would you be able to make the most out of it? Get the optimal benefits?

It would not be possible if you do not have a manual with it. And who can write a better manual for the product than the one who invented it?

One must realise that someone has created us. And just like every product has a manual, so does a human. Allah has given us a manual to follow. We are supposed to follow the holy scripture, the Quran, our manual. He knows better how we need to spend our lives to attain this peace, since He is the one who created us. He knows us very well

how we

work, how we feel, how we react, etc . . . We can try our methods but that will only lead us to incur more losses than gain in our lives. Think it over. Hope you can see the other side of the coin now. ِّ ِ‫س ْرنَا الْ ُق ْرآ َن ل‬ .‫لذ ْك ِر فَ َه ْل ِم ْن ُم َّدكِ ٍر‬ َّ َ‫َولَ​َق ْد ي‬ And We have indeed made the Quran easy to understand and remember, then is there any that will remember (or receive admonition)? (Quran 54:17)

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A

normal evening of a usual day at the market of Charminar it was. The auto

rickshaws wished to run fast and the bikes tried to run past. The shops had a normal footfall of customers. The weather was fine. The atmosphere was

special about it? Why this story?

A woman 4 ½ feet in height, of a somewhat leaner build trudged through her miseries.

Her right hand supported a large bag over her right shoulder, another hung from her other shoulder while the left hand carried one more bag, each of them heavy enough to bog her down without the others. She moved on in the north direction leaning to the right while pushing forward her right foot, and swaying to her left at the next step. Her face bejewelled with the gem of veil, highlighted her modesty, her sense of honor and self-respect.

The true daughter of Aishah and sister of Fatima ‫ﻱ هللا ُ َﻉ ْﻥ ُﻩ َﻡ ﺍ‬ َ ِ‫ ﺭَﺽ‬would rather guard her association with the great souls, and spit upon the lowly insolent faces of zillionaire skirties and tighties. The nudy who is fonder of displaying her ugly bareness than her dad and mom of the primate 6 variety would scarcely understand the sense of honor and liberty that this 50 sq. inch of cloth confers upon her. In this veil she finds herself liberated from the prying eyes of adrenaline-surplus boys educated from birth in the Deadlywood school 6

Monkey

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of vice and evil. She finds herself freed from being viewed as a sex object, who is admired and enjoyed in the blooming youth and is thrown away to some old age home in that age.

She knew that, in contrast, the freedom to pursue her destiny of Heaven was hers for

Ah! But the heavy luggage would not lighten up. She moved, nonstop, past the expensive bikes and the new and old cars, through the sea of men and women each in his own world, close physically and distant mentally. A Muslim having black beards like that of the holy Prophet ‫ﺱﻝَّ َﻡ‬ ْ َ‫ﺹﻝَّﻯ هللاُ َﻉﻝ‬ َ ‫ﻱ ِﻩ َﻭ‬ َ came from the other side, walking to the south while she to the north. They walked past each other like all others. The man in his late twenties with a light, thin bag on his back moved faster while the woman-in-veil with her three very heavy bags moved slower in the opposite direction. Nothing happened.

Really!? A brake seemed to slow down the boy. Passing by her, he went on, moved forward but decelerated. And after 30-40 steps, his velocity was reduced to zero. Soon it was in the negative. The boy was a Muslim, the woman a Muslim but a stranger, talking to her was not desirable with Allah watching over everyone everywhere. Yet the Muslim boy followed her fast and soon caught up with her. No salaam, no introduction, but some piece of paper. Of course not a letter of love!

Muslims do not do that! In the market, in the midst of scores of men, women and children what transpired between the two remained a secret between the two, Allah being the Third. There was a sort of thunder followed by rain.

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boy asked softly.

her veil with only her eyes visible. Somebody was disturbing her calm, meddling in her affairs. There was anger and irritation

obvious effects of exertion.

-

The two strangers parted, strangers from birth till death once again after this short break

‫ﺱﻝَّ َﻡ‬ ْ َ‫ﺹﻝَّﻯ هللا ُ َﻉﻝ‬ َ ‫ﻱ ِﻩ َﻭ‬ َ

his sister-inM

A

(and sister)

his brother (or sister)



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