M6:3058 — نور رویش آن‌چنان بردی بصر / که زمرد از دو دیدهٔ مار کر

Translation: The light of his face so stole the sight, Just as an emerald blinds the eyes of the deaf serpent. Meaning: This couplet refers to the overwhelming radiance of Moses's face, which would blind onlookers, akin to the then-prevalent belief that an emerald could cause the blindness of venomous snakes.

This couplet concerns Prophet Moses and the radiance of his face, a narrative Mowlana relays in the Masnavi with roots in earlier commentaries and tales, including Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī's commentary. Moses, upon returning from communion with God on Mount Sinai, had a face so luminous that his wife, Safura, was blinded by looking at it, and other people could not bear its sight. It was for this reason that Moses was compelled to wear a veil over his face, lest its light harm the eyes of others.

Mowlana likens this intense light to a popular belief that an emerald could blind a snake. This belief, as I have frequently noted, was a superstition that Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī, that great and empirical scientist, refuted through experimentation in his book al-Jamāhir fī Maʿrifat al-Jawāhir; he demonstrated that a snake's sight remained intact even when kept near an emerald. However, in Mowlana's time, this legend was current, and he employs this common simile to express a profound mystical truth: divine light is so intense that its unmediated manifestation exceeds the capacity of human vision and comprehension.

I argue that Moses himself requested of God a covering to temper that mighty light, and God responded by instructing him to fashion it from his own cloak and garment: "Make it from your own cloak, for that is the attire of a trustworthy gnostic." Here, a deeper point is revealed: the garment of the gnostic, having rubbed against his body and become imbued with his patience and the light of his soul, itself gains a resistance to divine light, enabling it to be moderated. In other words, the gnostic's attire is no longer merely cloth; it is intertwined with his spiritual journey and purity, enriched by his inner light. This precisely parallels what we observe with the reed; the reed is a hollow vessel that transforms the player's breath into a melody. This vessel, without being the breath itself, shapes it and makes it perceptible. Here too, Moses's garment, interwoven with his 'light of patience' and 'light of soul,' becomes a vessel that tempers and safely presents the intense divine light for human perception. The gnostic, with his entire being – even his clothing and appearance – becomes a conduit and mediator of divine light, presenting it in a manner that is tolerable and beneficial; and this, in itself, is one of the greatest miracles.

Key takeaways

• The manifestation of divine light can be so intense that human perception is unable to bear it.
• Mowlana utilizes common beliefs and similes from his era, even if scientifically unfounded, to convey profound mystical concepts.
• The gnostic's being, including his garments, can become imbued with the inner light of his spiritual journey, acquiring sacred and protective qualities.
• Just as the reed transforms the player's breath into a listenable melody, the gnostic mediates divine light, making it comprehensible to humans.