M6:3085 — پس زنی گفتش ز چشم عبهری / که ز دستت رفت حسرت می‌خوری

Translation: Then a woman with narcissus-like eyes said to him: "You have lost your sight, and now you grieve for it?" Meaning: This verse recounts a woman's question to Moses after his return from Mount Sinai, where she suggests his loss of physical sight is a cause for regret, highlighting a superficial understanding of sacrifice and the grandeur of spiritual experiences.

This verse emerges from Mowlana's narrative of Moses's return from Mount Sinai. After the divine manifestation, Moses's face became so radiant that even his wife could not bear to look upon it. God commanded Moses to fashion a veil from his own garment, not from an external cloth, for only something of his own essence could contain and temper that pervasive light. Mowlana uses this as an allegory to convey that divine manifestations are so penetrating they require a veil woven from their own being. It is in this context that the woman, from an utterly earthly perspective, asks Moses: "So you have lost your sight, and now you grieve for it?"

The term ʿabharī in this verse is the Arabic equivalent of narcissus. The narcissus flower, with its distinctive petal and center, has consistently been likened to the eye in Persian literature, hence chashm-i ʿabharī signifies narcissus-like eyes. The crux of the matter, however, lies in the woman's superficial and materialistic perception: she views the loss of physical sight as a profound detriment to Moses and assumes he must be filled with regret. She is utterly incapable of comprehending the unparalleled light, knowledge, and inner vision Moses attained in exchange for this apparent 'loss.'

Mowlana elsewhere likens this to the spiritual struggle of men of the path who, initially, may offer trivial material goods in God's way but ultimately "lose their soul" (jān dehad), reaching the highest echelon of sacrifice. The woman in Moses's story mirrors this: she fails to recognize the value of the soul and spiritual insight, seeing only the absence of a physical organ. This verse, with its elegant brevity, powerfully depicts the profound difference between a superficial, materialistic understanding and a deep, spiritual comprehension of the stature and achievements of God's saints. Mowlana consistently highlights this chasm between conventional worldview and gnostic intuition throughout the Masnavi.

Key takeaways

• Worldly and spiritual perspectives on sacrifice and self-abnegation diverge significantly.
• What appears to be a loss on the surface can be a gateway to higher spiritual revelations.
• Divine beauty and light are so profound that direct perception is possible only through a veil of their own essence.
• Mowlana consistently emphasizes the distinction between superficial understanding and profound insight when encountering truths.
• The path of spiritual struggle is not understood through the calculation of material losses but begins with the offering of one's very being.