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Baba Kuhi is an Iranian Sufi poet-saint. He spent many years in retreat and prayer in a mountain cave just north of Shiraz.
He died in 1050 A.D., and was buried just outside of Shiraz, on a hill called "the green old man" (Pir-i-sabz). It is said that just before Baba Kuhi died, he made a famous promise that if anyone could stay awake for forty consecutive nights at his tomb that person would be granted the gift of poetry, immortality, and his heart's desire.
A story is told about the later Sufi poet Hafiz: When the young Hafiz was in mourning because the young woman he loved was to marry the prince of Shiraz, he remembered the famous 'promise of Baba Kuhi.' Hafiz hoped to gain the young woman's hand and kept his vigil at Baba Kuhi's tomb at night, working in the bakery by day. Finally, utterly exhausted, Hafiz saw a radiant angel who asked him what he desired most. Hafiz was so dazzled by the sight of the angel that he forgot about the young woman and declared that he wanted God.
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