In Book 3 of Jalaluddin Rumi's Masnavi, the narrative of the sorcerers attempting to steal the sleeping Moses's staff is used as a profound allegory for the divine guardianship of the Qur'an. Rumi draws a direct parallel between the physical sleep of Moses and the earthly death of Prophet Muhammad. Just as the deceased sorcerer theorized that Moses's staff would retain its miraculous, dragon-like power while the prophet slept—thus proving its divine origin—Rumi asserts that the Qur'an remains perfectly protected and potent after Muhammad's passing. God promises the Prophet that He will personally guard the text from any addition or subtraction, ensuring the religion endures until the Resurrection. Following this theological reflection, the narrative resumes with the two young sorcerers acting upon their father's test, traveling to Egypt, and discovering Moses peacefully sleeping beneath a date palm, setting the stage for the miraculous validation of his prophethood.

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In Book 3 of Jalaluddin Rumi's Masnavi, the deceased sorcerer answers his children in a dream, providing a decisive test to determine whether Moses is a mere magician or a genuine prophet. He instructs them to attempt to steal Moses's staff while he sleeps. The father explains the metaphysical distinction between human magic and divine miracles: a sorcerer's power relies on conscious effort and cunning, which cease during physical sleep. He compares a sleeping sorcerer to a sleeping shepherd whose flock is left vulnerable to wolves. Conversely, if Moses is a true messenger, his power is perpetually sustained by God. Because God is the eternal, unsleeping guardian, the staff remains fiercely protected regardless of the prophet's physical state. Rumi uses this narrative to illustrate that divine miracles are rooted in the Ultimate Reality, transcending human limitations and conscious exertion.

The Deceased Sorcerer's Test of Moses's Authenticity in the Masnavi

## Original content
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مصطفی را وعده کرد الطاف حق 
گر بمیری تو نمیرد این سبق
من کتاب و معجزه‌ت را رافعم 
بیش و کم‌کن را ز قرآن مانعم
من ترا اندر دو عالم حافظم 
طاعنان را از حدیثت رافضم
کس نتاند بیش و کم کردن درو 
تو به از من حافظی دیگر مجو
رونقت را روز روز افزون کنم 
نام تو بر زر و بر نقره زنم
منبر و محراب سازم بهر تو 
در محبت قهر من شد قهر تو
نام تو از ترس پنهان می‌گوند 
چون نماز آرند پنهان می‌شوند
از هراس وترس کفار لعین 
دینت پنهان می‌شود زیر زمین
من مناره پر کنم آفاق را 
کور گردانم دو چشم عاق را
چاکرانت شهرها گیرند و جاه 
دین تو گیرد ز ماهی تا به ماه
تا قیامت باقیش داریم ما 
تو مترس از نسخ دین ای مصطفی
ای رسول ما تو جادو نیستی 
صادقی هم‌خرقهٔ موسیستی
هست قرآن مر تو را همچون عصا 
کفرها را در کشد چون اژدها
تو اگر در زیر خاکی خفته‌ای 
چون عصایش دان تو آنچ گفته‌ای
قاصدان را بر عصایش دست نی 
تو بخسپ ای شه مبارک خفتنی
تن بخفته نور تو بر آسمان 
بهر پیکار تو زه کرده کمان
فلسفی و آنچ پوزش می‌کند 
قوس نورت تیردوزش می‌کند
آنچنان کرد و از آن افزون که گفت 
او بخفت و بخت و اقبالش نخفت
جان بابا چونک ساحر خواب شد 
کار او بی رونق و بی‌تاب شد
هر دو بوسیدند گورش را و تفت 
تا بمصر از بهر آن پیگار زفت
چون به مصر از بهر آن کار آمدند 
طالب موسی و خانهٔ او شدند
اتفاق افتاد کان روز ورود 
موسی اندر زیر نخلی خفته بود
پس نشان دادندشان مردم بدو 
که برو آن سوی نخلستان بجو
چون بیامد دید در خرمابنان 
خفته‌ای که بود بیدار جهان
بهر نازش بسته او دو چشم سر 
عرش و فرشش جمله در زیر نظر
ای بسا بیدارچشم و خفته‌دل 
خود چه بیند دید اهل آب و گل
آنک دل بیدار دارد چشم سر 
گر بخسپد بر گشاید صد بصر
گر تو اهل دل نه‌ای بیدار باش 
طالب دل باش و در پیکار باش
ور دلت بیدار شد می‌خسپ خوش 
نیست غایب ناظرت از هفت و شش
گفت پیغامبر که خسپد چشم من 
لیک کی خسپد دلم اندر وسن
شاه بیدارست حارس خفته گیر 
جان فدای خفتگان دل‌بصیر
وصف بیداری دل ای معنوی 
در نگنجد در هزاران مثنوی
چون بدیدندش که خفتست او دراز 
بهر دزدی عصا کردند ساز
ساحران قصد عصا کردند زود 
کز پسش باید شدن وانگه ربود
اندکی چون پیشتر کردند ساز 
اندر آمد آن عصا در اهتزاز
آنچنان بر خود بلرزید آن عصا 
کان دو بر جا خشک گشتند از وجا
بعد از آن شد اژدها و حمله کرد 
هر دوان بگریختند و روی‌زرد
رو در افتادن گرفتند از نهیب 
غلط غلطان منهزم در هر نشیب
پس یقینشان شد که هست از آسمان 
زانک می‌دیدند حد ساحران
بعد از آن اطلاق و تبشان شد پدید 
کارشان تا نزع و جان کندن رسید
پس فرستادند مردی در زمان 
سوی موسی از برای عذر آن
کامتحان کردیم و ما را کی رسد 
امتحان تو اگر نبود حسد
مجرم شاهیم ما را عفو خواه 
ای تو خاص الخاص درگاه اله
عفو کرد و در زمان نیکو شدند 
پیش موسی بر زمین سر می‌زدند
گفت موسی عفو کردم ای کرام 
گشت بر دوزخ تن و جانتان حرام
من شما را خود ندیدم ای دو یار 
اعجمی سازید خود را ز اعتذار
همچنان بیگانه‌شکل و آشنا 
در نبرد آیید بهر پادشا
پس زمین را بوسه دادند و شدند 
انتظار وقت و فرصت می‌بدند

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## English translation
The grace of the Real gave Muṣṭafā this promise:
'If you die, this teaching shall not die.
I am the upholder of your Book and your miracle;
I am the barrier against whoever would add or subtract from the Qur'an.
I am your guardian in both worlds;
I repel those who slander your words.
None can add or subtract from it —
Seek no guardian better than Me.
I will increase your splendor day by day;
I will stamp your name on gold and silver.
I will make pulpits and prayer-niches for your sake;
In love, My wrath has become your wrath.
Your name they speak in secret out of fear;
When they perform prayer they do so in hiding.
Out of dread and terror of the accursed unbelievers,
Your religion hides itself beneath the ground.
I will fill the horizons with minarets;
I will blind both eyes of the disobedient.
Your servants will take cities and high station;
Your religion will extend from the fish to the moon.
We shall keep it enduring until the Resurrection —
Fear not the abrogation of the religion, O Muṣṭafā.
O Our Messenger, you are no sorcerer;
You are truthful, of the same mantle as Moses.
The Qur'an is for you as a staff:
It swallows unbelief as a dragon swallows.
If you lie sleeping beneath the earth,
Know what you have spoken to be as that staff.
Those who would tamper have no hand upon your staff —
Sleep, O king; blessed is your sleep.
Your body sleeps; your light is in the heavens,
The bow drawn taut for your battle.
The philosopher and whatever excuse he offers —
The arc of your light shoots arrows through him.
So it came to pass — and more than what was said;
He slept, but his fortune and favor did not sleep.
O dear soul, when the sorcerer fell asleep,
His work became lusterless and without power.
Both kissed his grave and swiftly set off
For Egypt for that great contest.
When they came to Egypt for that matter,
They went in search of Moses and his dwelling.
It came to pass that on the day of their arrival
Moses was sleeping beneath a date palm.
Then people directed them toward him, saying:
Go and seek him yonder among the palm trees.
When they arrived, they saw among the date palms
A sleeper who was the wakeful one of the world —
For ease he had closed his two outward eyes;
Throne and earth lay entirely beneath his gaze.
How many are awake of eye yet sleeping of heart!
What can the people of water and clay see?
One who has an awakened heart — if his outward eye
Should sleep, a hundred visions open.
If you are not a person of heart, remain wakeful;
Seek the heart, and persevere in the struggle.
But if your heart has awakened, sleep sweetly —
Your Watcher is not absent from the seven and six.
The Prophet said: My eye sleeps,
But when does my heart sleep in slumber?
The King is awake — count the guard as asleep;
May my soul be a ransom for the sleepers who are heart-sighted.
The description of the heart's wakefulness, O seeker of meaning,
Would not fit in a thousand Masnavis.
When they saw him lying stretched in sleep,
They made ready to steal the staff.
The sorcerers quickly made for the staff —
They had to go around behind him and then seize it.
Just as they edged a little further forward,
That staff began to tremble.
It shook so mightily upon itself
That the two were frozen in place, paralyzed with dread.
After that it became a dragon and charged —
Both fled with faces gone pale.
They began to fall headlong from terror,
Rolling and tumbling, routed down every slope.
Then they knew for certain it was from heaven,
For they saw the limits of sorcerers.
After that, loosening and fever came upon them;
Their condition reached as far as death-agony and the wresting of the soul.
Then they quickly sent a man
To Moses to beg pardon for it:
'We tested you — and how could it befit us
To test you, were it not for envy?
We are guilty, O King; beg forgiveness for us,
O you who are the most elect of God's threshold.'
He forgave them, and at once they became well;
They prostrated their heads before Moses on the ground.
Moses said: 'I have forgiven you, O noble ones —
Hell is now forbidden to your bodies and souls.
I myself did not see you at all, O two companions;
Make yourselves as strangers through this apology.
Yet appearing outwardly as strangers while inwardly known,
Come into the battle for the King.'
Then they kissed the ground and departed,
Awaiting the time and opportunity.

دفتر سوم - بخش ۴۷ - تشبیه کردن قرآن مجید را به عصای موسی و وفات مصطفی را علیه السلام نمودن بخواب موسی و قاصدان تغییر قرآن را با آن دو ساحر بچه کی قصد بردن عصا کردند چو موسی را خفته یافتند / Book Three - Section 47 - Comparing the Glorious Qur'an to the Staff of Moses, and Representing the Passing of Mustafa, Peace Be Upon Him, as the Sleep of Moses, and Comparing Those Who Intend to Alter the Qur'an with the Two Young Sorcerers Who Intended to Steal the Staff When They Found Moses Asleep

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The Metaphor of the Qur'an as Moses's Staff in the Masnavi

In Book 3 of Jalaluddin Rumi's *Masnavi*, after the sorcerers confirm Moses's divine authenticity and submit to God, Pharaoh threatens them with severe torture, vowing to amputate their hands and feet crosswise. Pharaoh assumes the sorcerers are still bound by worldly fears and illusions. However, Rumi reveals that their spiritual awakening has made them completely immune to physical intimidation. To explain their fearlessness, Rumi invokes the metaphor of the material world as a mere dream, reflecting the prophetic tradition that worldly life is the sleep of the soul. Just as losing a limb or being severed in half during a dream causes no real injury to the waking person, physical mutilation in the material realm holds no terror for an awakened spirit. Having witnessed the eternal 'root' of existence, the sorcerers no longer fear the transient 'branches of illusion.' To them, the physical body is merely a temporary form; for the enlightened soul, physical destruction is as inconsequential as a potter breaking and remaking a clay pot.

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