Living The Quran
From Issue: 979 [Read full issue]
Sacred Valley
Ta-Ha (Ta-Ha) Sura 20: Verses 11-12
"Then when he came to it, he was called, 'O Moses! Verily I am thy Lord. Take off thy sandals. Truly thou art in the holy valley of Tuwa.'"
Moses was told to take off his sandals, either because they were made of the skin of a dead donkey, or out of reverence (tazim) for the sacred space where he was standing, just as people are commanded to remove their shoes before entering the sacred sanctuary (haram) of the Kaba or in fact any mosque. According to a more esoteric reading of this phrase, al-Ghazzali suggests that in being asked to remove his sandals Moses was being instructed to cast aside this world and the next world by turning his face toward God alone.
It is interesting to note that the name of the holy valley in which Moses encounters God is Tuwa, which comes from a root that means "to fold up" and "to become enwrapped." Thus, Moses is told to rid himself of any thought of this world or the next, because he is in the place of Divine intimacy, the inner, holy sanctuary that symbolizes the Ocean of the Divine Presence above all states of existence. It is here that all of existence is "folded up" before him and where his soul becomes "enwrapped" in the Divine Reality.
Compiled From:
"The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary" - Seyyed Hossein Nasr