Concept

Pharaoh's Stratagem of Material Temptation to Destroy the Newborn Moses in the Masnavi

In Rumi's Masnavi, Pharaoh's decree summoning mothers and their newborns to the square under the guise of awarding gold and robes of honor represents a deceptive stratagem of material temptation. By exploiting human greed and vulnerability, Pharaoh attempts to expose and eliminate the spiritual threat (Moses). Symbolically, this illustrates how the tyrannical lower self (nafs) uses worldly allurements to identify and extinguish emerging spiritual awareness. Despite this elaborate ruse, divine destiny ensures the failure of material temptation to thwart spiritual revelation.

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Updated 2026-06-13

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Persian Literature Prerequisite Course