M6:2439 — لیک زیر پای موسی هم‌چو یخ / می‌گدازید او نماندش شاخ و شخ

Translation: But beneath Moses' feet, like ice, It melted away; no peak or rock remained for it. Meaning: This verse describes, through the dream of one of three travelers, the divine epiphany (tajalli) on Mount Sinai. In the face of God's awe-inspiring presence, the mountain dissolves like ice, losing all its form and structure.

This verse is embedded within a marvelous story that Mawlana narrates through the voice of a Jewish traveler; a dream in which Moses encounters the divine epiphany on Mount Sinai. Here, Mawlana, with full power and grandeur, depicts the effect of this theophany upon material existence. The mountain, a symbol of solidity and steadfastness, in this encounter, melts like ice beneath Moses' feet, leaving no 'peak or rock' (shakh-o-shakh) of it behind.

I have repeatedly emphasized that Mawlana's account of 'Moses falling unconscious' (khar Musā saʿqan) and God's manifestation on the mountain is an internal, visionary experience, not an external physical event. The Torah also narrates that the mountain did not physically move, but it was in Moses's vision that this melting and effacement occurred. This distinction is crucial; what Mawlana describes is the impact of divine illumination on the human soul and perception, which renders the external world differently and shatters it.

Divine epiphany is a 'heavy word' (qawlan thaqīlan), just as it is described in Surah al-Muzzammil: 'Indeed, We will cast upon you a weighty word.' This 'heavy speech' breaks down all resistance, rendering one 'dazed, unconscious, unaware.' The melting of the mountain beneath Moses' feet is a metaphor for this collapse of ordinary perceptual foundations in the face of infinite grandeur. It is not merely the loss of the mountain's external form, but the dissolution of mental frameworks and preconceived expectations before the transcendent.

This melting experience not only transforms nature but also paves the way for deeper insights. As the Jewish traveler later observes the mountain is back in its place, but the desert is filled with 'Moses-like figures' (shakl-i Musā dar wujūh), and from this uniformity, he arrives at the 'unity of prophets' (ittiḥād-i anbiyā). That initial dissolution is a gateway to a final vision of unity. Thus, this verse marks the climax of a preliminary breakdown, preceding a new edifice of knowledge; an experience that every seeker, according to their capacity and spiritual state, comprehends, finding the mountain of their own existence melting beneath the feet of the Divine Reality.

Key takeaways

• Divine epiphany (tajalli) possesses such immense power that it can reduce the solidity of a mountain to a state of melting.
• What occurred in Moses's experience was the melting of the mountain within his inner vision and intuitive perception, not necessarily a physical transformation of the mountain.
• Revelation (wahi) and inspiration can act as a 'heavy word' that shatters mental and material resistances.
• The dissolution of forms and structures in confrontation with the Divine prepares the ground for deeper and ultimate understanding.
• This experience of breakdown is not a sign of destruction, but a prelude to the discovery of unity and existential truth.