M6:2443 — چون عصا و خرقهٔ او خرقه‌شان / جمله سوی طور خوش دامن کشان

Translation: Like his staff and cloak, so were their cloaks; All joyfully drawing their skirts, toward Mount Ṭūr they went. Meaning: In this mystical vision, the Jewish traveler sees a multitude resembling Moses in appearance and demeanor, all eagerly journeying toward Mount Ṭūr.

This verse paints a vivid picture from the spiritual dream of the Jewish traveler, a narrative in the sixth book of the Masnavi that Mawlana expands upon with such detail and depth that it feels as though he is recounting his own inner experiences. This is, without doubt, reminiscent of stories like that of Daquqi in Book Three, which very likely reflects his personal mystical encounters.

As I've pointed out before, Mawlana, following the vision of Moses on Mount Ṭūr, describes a scene where the "entire plain at the foot of the mountain / was full of people, all bearing the likeness of Moses." This vast field and the foothills of Ṭūr are teeming with individuals, each bearing Moses's visage. This collective resemblance to a great prophet itself holds a profound point: the prophetic experience, though unique, can fundamentally reside as a latent capacity within all human beings. The phrase "Like his staff and cloak, so were their cloaks" indicates that this similarity is not merely superficial; rather, the outer garment symbolizes their inner conduct and identity. This multitude, with staff in hand and cloak draped over them – all bearing the outward and inward marks of Moses – proceeds towards a shared destination.

The movement of this crowd towards Ṭūr is described with the joyous qualifier "joyfully drawing their skirts." This 'drawing their skirts' does not signify haste or urgency, but rather an inner exuberance and spiritual ṭarab, an intrinsic desire that draws them to this destination not by coercion, but by sheer fascination. This is precisely the quality Mawlana attributes to the spiritual path: a journey imbued with ecstasy, not with hardship or reluctance. Mount Ṭūr here is not just a geographical location, but a symbol of divine manifestation, the very place where Moses (pbuh) requested ʾArinī ('Show Thyself to me') and the divine manifestation caused him to fall unconscious (ṣaʿqā). The people in this dream, too, "harmonized the melody of ʾArinī," meaning they all, in one voice, sought direct divine encounter.

A crucial point is that, although Mawlana initially likens the dream to "a cat seeing a piece of fat in its dream," he subsequently delves into such detail and profundity that, to me, it elevates it to a real and 'living' experience. An experience that has 'external and objective effects' and multiplies certainty a hundredfold. This dream transcends mere fantasy and reaches the realm of spiritual unveiling and intuition. At the end of this dream, when the dreamer recovers from his trance, he initially sees everyone as 'in the likeness of Moses,' but then 'the form of each one appeared different to me,' and he realizes that 'these were all prophets.' This shift from 'one form' to 'diversity' is not a denial of unity, but an affirmation of the 'unity of prophets' and their singular ultimate goal, despite differences in their manifestations and schools of thought. This is precisely the pluralism of salvation that Mawlana believes in; that salvation and redemption are not limited to a single law, but are directed towards pure intention and lofty human ideals, regardless of the outward form and framework of religion or creed.

Key takeaways

• Mawlana uses individual dreams (whether fictional or personal) as vehicles to explicate profound mystical experiences and divine truths.
• This verse suggests that the prophetic experience and divine manifestation are latent capacities within all humans and can manifest collectively.
• The 'joyfully drawing their skirts' towards the Divine signifies inner yearning, spiritual ecstasy, and intrinsic desire, rather than obligatory or superficial movement.
• Moses and Mount Ṭūr symbolize the quest for direct divine encounter and the confrontation with transcendent truth, as expressed in the multitude's collective 'ʾArinī' cry.
• Mawlana's understanding of spiritual dreams allows them to have 'objective' effects, leading to certainty and inner transformation.
• The shift in perception from 'all like Moses' to 'each one transformed' and then to the 'unity of prophets' reflects a goal-oriented pluralism in Mawlana's worldview.