بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Moses and the Shepherd: Rumi’s Famous Lesson
There’s a reason one particular scene from Rumi’s Masnavi keeps showing up everywhere—on social media, in sermons, in interfaith conversations, in classrooms, and in quiet moments when someone is trying to find words for the Divine. I’m not convinced by William Chittick’s neat split that casts Rumi as the voice of Love and Ibn ʿArabī as the voice of Knowledge, but the contrast can still be useful: this episode shows how insistently Rumi privileges love as a way of approach—one that refuses to shame sincerity.
A prophet overhears a shepherd praying in a way that sounds almost shocking: intimate, earthy, full of images that feel far too human. The prophet corrects him. The shepherd breaks. And then—Rumi flips the whole moment on its head. God responds, and the response is not what the “proper” listener would expect.
This is the story often titled “Moses and the Shepherd.” In the Masnavi, it appears in Book II, a cluster of verses that readers return to again and again.
Rumi, the Masnavi, and why this passage travels so far
Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (1207–1273) is a towering figure in Persian literature and Sufi spirituality—both poet and teacher—whose work shaped mystical thought across the Muslim world and far beyond it.
His Masnavi-ye Maʿnavi (“Spiritual Couplets”) is immense—around 26,000 couplets—and has been treated by many Persian-reading Sufi communities as second in importance only to the Qur’an. It isn’t a single linear epic; it’s more like a vast teaching-text made of stories, arguments, jokes, parables, and sudden turns of illumination.
And in that ocean of teaching, “Moses and the Shepherd” has become one of the most shared and remembered episodes because it dramatizes a tension almost everyone recognizes:- the language of love versus the language of correctness
- outer form versus inner sincerity
- the heart’s impulse versus the mind’s policing
It’s also famous because it refuses to let the reader rest in easy superiority. The “educated” character (Moses) is not mocked—but he is corrected. The “simple” character (the shepherd) is not romanticized—but he is defended.
In modern English-speaking culture, Rumi’s popularity has exploded—sometimes through faithful translations, sometimes through looser adaptations, and sometimes through quotations wrongly attributed to him. Writers have pointed out how often popular versions smooth away the Islamic texture of the original, even though the Masnavi is threaded with Qur’anic references and Arabic passages.
That matters here, because this story is not “religion-free.” It’s a spiritual argument inside a religious world: Rumi is critiquing spiritual arrogance, not throwing devotion away. The story, retold in prose
1) A prayer on the road
Moses is traveling when he hears a shepherd speaking aloud to God.
The shepherd’s prayer is tender, even playful—full of daily-life images. He speaks as if God were a beloved guest: Let me serve You. Let me care for You. Let me bring You comfort. He offers the kind of love he knows how to offer, shaped by the world he lives in—milk, bedding, mending, touch, nearness. In some Kashmiri retellings, the devotion even takes on a maternal tone—as though the devotee is mothering the Divine.
It isn’t the language of theology; it’s the language of longing—love, devotion, and service.
2) The rebuke
Moses is stunned.
He confronts the shepherd: Who are you talking to? What kind of speech is this?
To Moses, this is more than clumsy; it’s dangerous. God is not a body. God does not need shoes or hair-combing. This kind of talk sounds, to him, like disrespect—like dragging the Holy into the smallness of human need.
So Moses corrects him sharply. He insists on proper understanding, proper words, proper reverence.
And the shepherd—who was only trying to love—collapses inward. Shame floods him. He tears at himself with regret. Then he turns away and disappears into the desert.
The road goes quiet.
3) God’s response
Then comes the turning point that makes this story unforgettable: God speaks to Moses.
And the message is not, Well done for defending My honor.
The message is closer to: You separated My servant from Me. Why?
God’s reply reframes everything. It isn’t that knowledge is worthless or that theology is evil. It’s that Moses used knowledge like a weapon—without tenderness, without wisdom, without reading the human heart in front of him.
God’s correction insists on something radical:
-
People speak from their capacity.
-
Devotion wears many dialects.
-
God looks past phrasing and hears intention.
In other words: Do not confuse spiritual refinement with spiritual reality.
4) The search
Moses is shaken. He goes after the shepherd across the wilderness.
Rumi makes this pursuit vivid: Moses follows footprints that wander strangely—because the shepherd is not walking in tidy lines anymore. He’s broken open. His grief and love have made him erratic, raw.
Finally, Moses finds him.
5) Permission, and something beyond permission
Moses brings a new message: Speak freely. Don’t strain for etiquette. Say what your heart needs to say.
But the shepherd surprises Moses again.
He says, in essence: That version of me is gone. Your rebuke burned through my words. I’m not where I was.
He has moved beyond his earlier, image-filled prayer—not because Moses was “right,” but because the shock cracked something open inside him. He is no longer merely speaking about love; he is living inside its wound and its fire.
And the story leaves us with a quiet paradox:
Rumi doesn’t tie it all up with a neat moral. He leaves it alive, unfinished, and burning.
This story has survived for centuries because it targets a temptation that never dies: the urge to correct someone’s devotion instead of understanding it.
Rumi is not saying, “All speech about God is equally accurate.” He’s saying something more challenging:
God is not small enough to be defended by your ego.
And a human heart is too precious to be crushed in the name of correctness.
It’s also a story about spiritual maturity. Early on, many of us think faith means “getting the words right.” Later, we start to sense that faith also means “not breaking the bruised reed.” And deeper still, we learn that love sometimes outgrows both speech and argument.
Moses objects to the shepherd’s prayer
دید موسی یک شبانی را به راه
کو همیگفت ای گزیننده اله
Translation:
Moses saw a shepherd on the road one night,
who kept calling, “O God—O Chooser, O Electing One!”
تو کجایی تا شوم من چاکرت
چارقت دوزم کنم شانه سرت
Translation:
“Where are You, so I can be Your servant?
I’ll stitch Your sandals; I’ll comb Your hair.
جامهات شویم شپشهاات کُشم
شیر پیشت آورم ای محتشم
Translation:
I’ll wash Your clothes, I’ll pick off Your lice;
I’ll bring You milk, my honored Lord.
دستکت بوسم بمالم پایکت
وقت خواب آید بروبم جایکت
Translation:
I’ll kiss Your hand; I’ll rub Your feet;
when sleep comes, I’ll sweep Your sleeping-place.”
ای فدای تو همه بزهای من
ای بیادت هیهی و هیهای من
Translation:
“All my goats—every one—are Yours to take;
and every ‘hey!’ and ‘ho!’ I cry out is for You.”
این نمط بیهوده میگفت آن شبان
گفت موسی با کی است این ای فلان
Translation:
In this way the shepherd spoke—so simply, so unaware.
Moses said, “Hey you—who are you talking to?”
گفت با آنکس که ما را آفرید
این زمین و چرخ ازو آمد پدید
Translation:
He said, “To the One who created us—
from Him this earth and turning sky appeared.”
گفت موسی های بس مُدبِر شدی
خود مسلمان ناشده کافر شدی
Translation:
Moses said, “Ah—you’ve gone terribly astray;
you haven’t even become a Muslim, and you’ve already fallen into unbelief."
این چه ژاژست این چه کفرست و فُشار
پنبهای اندر دهان خود فشار
Translation:
What is this babble—this disbelief, this filth?
Stuff some cotton in your mouth and stop!”
گند کفر تو جهان را گنده کرد
کفر تو دیبای دین را ژنده کرد
Translation:
The stink of your unbelief has fouled the world;
your unbelief has frayed religion’s brocade.
چارق و پاتابه لایق مر تراست
آفتابی را چنینها کی رواست
Translation:
Sandals and foot-wraps are fit for you—
but how could such things suit the Sun?
گر نبندی زین سخن تو حلق را
آتشی آید بسوزد خلق را
Translation:
If you don’t close your throat to talk like this,
a fire will come and burn the people.
آتشی گر نامدست این دود چیست
جان سیه گشته روان مردود چیست
Translation:
If Ino fire has come, what is this smoke?
What is this blackened soul—this rejected spirit?
گر همیدانی که یزدان داورست
ژاژ و گستاخی ترا چون باورست
Translation:
If you know God is the Judge,
how can you hold to such nonsense and insolence?
دوستی بیخرد خود دشمنیست
حق تعالی زین چنین خدمت غنیست
Translation:
Love without understanding becomes its own enemy;
God has no need of service like this.
با کی میگویی تو این با عم و خال
جسم و حاجت در صفات ذوالجلال
Translation:
Who are you speaking to—your uncle, your aunt?
Do you pin body and need onto the Lord of Majesty?
شیر او نوشد که در نشو و نماست
چارق او پوشد که او محتاج پاست
Translation:
Milk is for one who grows and develops;
shoes are for one who needs feet.
ور برای بندهشست این گفت تو
آنک حق گفت او منست و من خود او
Translation:
And if you mean these words for God’s servant—
the one of whom God said, “He is Me, and I am he”—
آنک گفت انی مرضت لم تعد
من شدم رنجور او تنها نشد
Translation:
the one about whom He said, “I was sick and you did not visit Me”—
“I became ill; it wasn’t only him.”
آنک بی یسمع و بی یبصر شدهست
در حق آن بنده این هم بیهدهست
Translation:
the one in whom “he hears” and “he sees” are no longer his own—
even toward such a servant, this talk is still misplaced.
بی ادب گفتن سخن با خاص حق
دل بمیراند سیه دارد ورق
Translation:
To speak without reverence to God’s intimates
kills the heart, and blackens the page (of deeds).
گر تو مردی را بخوانی فاطمه
گرچه یک جنساند مرد و زن همه
Translation:
If you call a man “Fatimah,”
even though man and woman are one human kind,
قصد خون تو کند تا ممکنست
گرچه خوشخو و حلیم و ساکنست
Translation:
he’ll go for your blood if he can—
even if he’s gentle, patient, and calm.
فاطمه مدحست در حق زنان
مرد را گویی بود زخم سنان
Translation:
“Fatimah” is praise when said of women;
say it to a man—it lands like a spear-wound.
دست و پا در حق ما استایش است
در حق پاکی حق آلایش است
Translation:
Hands and feet, for us, are fitting praise;
for God’s pure Being, such words are a stain.
لم یلد لم یولد او را لایق است
والد و مولود را او خالق است
Translation:
“He neither begets nor is begotten” suits Him;
He is the Creator of parent and child.
هرچه جسم آمد ولادت وصف اوست
هرچه مولودست او زین سوی جوست
Translation:
Whatever is bodily bears the mark of birth;
whatever is born belongs on this (our) side of things.
زانک از کون و فساد است و مهین
حادثست و محدثی خواهد یقین
Translation:
For it belongs to coming-to-be and passing-away, and it is lowly;
it is created—and surely needs a Creator.
گفت ای موسی دهانم دوختی
وز پشیمانی تو جانم سوختی
Translation:
The shepherd said, “Moses—you sewed my mouth shut;
your rebuke has burned my soul with regret.”
جامه را بدرید و آهی کرد تفت
سر نهاد اندر بیابانی و رفت
Translation:
He tore his cloak and let out a scorching sigh,
bowed his head, and went off into the desert.
God reproaches Moses for the shepherd
وحی آمد سوی موسی از خدا
بندهٔ ما را ز ما کردی جدا
Translation:
A revelation came to Moses from God:
“You have torn Our servant away from Us.”
تو برای وصل کردن آمدی
یا برای فَصل کردن آمدی؟
Translation:
Did you come to join (hearts) together—
or did you come to split them apart?
تا توانی پا مَنِه اندر فَراق
اَبْغَضُ الْاَشْیاء عِندي الطَّلاق
Translation:
As far as you can, do not step into separation;
the most detested thing to Me is divorce.
هر کسی را سیرتی بنهادهام
هر کسی را اصطلاحی دادهام
Translation:
I have placed a particular nature in each soul;
I have given each one their own way of speaking.
در حقِ او مَدح و در حقِّ تو ذَم
در حقِ او شَهد و در حقِّ تو سَم
Translation:
For him it was praise, but for you it was blame;
for him it was honey, but for you it was poison.
ما بَری از پاک و ناپاکی همه
از گِرانجانی و چالاکی همه
Translation:
We are beyond all “pure” and “impure,”
beyond “heavy” and “quick,” beyond every such measure.
من نکردم امر تا سودی کنم
بَلک تا بر بندگان جودی کنم
Translation:
I do not command in order to profit—
I command to pour generosity upon My servants.
هندوان را اصطلاحِ هند مدح
سندیان را اصطلاحِ سِند مدح
Translation:
To Indians, the Indian idiom is fitting praise;
to Sindhis, the Sindhi idiom is fitting praise.
من نگردم پاک از تسبیحِشان
پاک هم ایشان شوند و دُرفِشان
Translation:
Their glorifying does not cleanse Me—
it cleanses them, and what is precious within them.
ما زبان را نَنْگریم و قال را
ما روان را بنگریم و حال را
Translation:
We do not look at language and talk;
We look at the spirit, and the living state.
ناظرِ قلبیم اگر خاشِع بوَد
گرچه گفتِ لَفظ، ناخاضِع رُوَد
Translation:
We watch the heart—if it is humbled;
even if the phrasing sounds unmannered.
زانک دل جَوهر بوَد، گفتن عَرَض
پس طُفَیل آمد عَرَض، جَوهرْ غَرَض
Translation:
The heart is the substance; speech is only an attribute—
the attribute is incidental; the substance is the aim.
چند ازین اَلفاظ و اِضْمار و مَجاز؟
سوزْ خواهمْ سوز، با آن سوزْ ساز
Translation:
How long with words, hints, and figurative turns?
I want burning—true burning—tuned to that fire.
آتشی از عشق در جانْ بَر فُروز
سَر بِسَر فکر و عبارت را بسوز
Translation:
Kindle a fire of love inside the soul;
burn up, completely, thought and expression.
موسیا آدابدانان دیگرند
سوخته جان و روانان دیگرند
Translation:
Moses—those trained in etiquette are one kind;
those burnt through in soul and spirit are another.
عاشقان را هر نفَسْ سوزیدَنیست
بر دِهِ ویران خَراج و عُشْر نیست
Translation:
For lovers, every breath is a new burning;
you don’t demand tax and tithe from a ruined village.
گر خطا گوید، وُرا خاطی مگو
گر بوَد پُر خون شهید، او را مشو
Translation:
If he speaks “wrong,” do not call him guilty;
if a martyr is drenched in blood, do not wash him.
خون، شهیدان را ز آب اَولیٰ تَرَست
این خطا، از صد صَواب اَولیٰ ترست
Translation:
A martyr’s blood is better than water;
this “mistake” is better than a hundred “correct” acts.
در درونِ کعبه رسمِ قبله نیست
چه غم اَر غَوّاص را پاچیله نیست؟
Translation:
Inside the Kaaba, there is no rule of facing the prayer‑direction;
what sorrow is it if the diver has no shoes?
تو ز سَرمَستان قَلاوُزی مجو
جامهچاکان را چه فرمایی رَفو؟
Translation:
Don’t ask the ecstatic drunk to be your guide;
what can you tell the garment‑tearers about mending?
ملتِ عشق از همه دینها جداست
عاشقان را ملت و مذهب خداست
Translation:
The nation of love is separate from all religions;
for lovers, God alone is creed and path.
لَعْل را گر مُهر نبوَد باک نیست
عشق در دریای غم، غمناک نیست
Translation:
If the ruby has no official seal, it’s no loss;
love, in the sea of grief, does not become grief‑struck.
Revelation to Moses in defense of that shepherd
بعد از آن در سِرّ موسی حق نهفت
رازهایی گفت کان ناید به گفت
Translation:
Then God hid something deep within Moses,
and spoke secrets no speech can fully carry.
بر دل موسی سخنها ریختند
دیدن و گفتن به هم آمیختند
Translation:
Words were poured into Moses’ heart;
seeing and saying became one mingled stream.
چند بیخود گشت و چند آمد به خوَد
چند پَرّید از ازل سوی ابد
Translation:
For a while he vanished from himself, then came back again;
for a while he flew from “forever” toward “forevermore.”
بعد از این گر شرح گویم ابلهیست
زانک شرح این ورای آگهیست
Translation:
To explain it now would be foolish,
for this is beyond the reach of ordinary knowing.
ور بگویم عقلها را برکَند
ور نویسم بس قلمها بشکند
Translation:
If I spoke it, it would tear minds apart;
if I wrote it, it would break a thousand pens.
چون که موسی این عتاب از حق شنید
در بیابان در پی چوپان دوید
Translation:
When Moses heard that rebuke from God,
he ran into the desert after the shepherd.
بر نشان پای آن سرگشته راند
گرد از پرّهٔ بیابان برفشاند
Translation:
He followed the tracks of that bewildered soul,
kicking up dust from the desert’s wide face.
گام پای مردم شوریده خوَد
هم ز گام دیگران پیدا بوَد
Translation:
The footprints of a person beside themselves
stand out at once from everyone else’s.
یک قدم چون رخ ز بالا تا نشیب
یک قدم چون پیل رفته بر وریب
Translation:
One step went straight, like a rook from height to slope;
the next veered sideways, like an elephant on a slant.
گاه چون موجی بر افرازان عَلَم
گاه چون ماهی روانه بر شکم
Translation:
Now he surged like a wave, hoisting a flag,
now he slid like a fish, belly to the water.
گاه بر خاکی نبشته حال خْوَد
همچو رمالی که رملی بر زند
Translation:
Now he wrote his state upon the dust,
like a geomancer (a type of fortune-teller) casting lines in sand.
عاقبت دریافت او را و بدید
گفت مژده ده که دستوری رسید
Translation:
At last he found him and saw him, and said:
“Rejoice—permission has come.”
هیچ آدابی و ترتیبی مجو
هرچه میخواهد دل تنگت بگو
Translation:
Seek no etiquette, no careful form;
say whatever your tight heart longs to say.
کفر تو دین است و دینت نور جان
آمنی وز تو جهانی در امان
Translation:
Your “unbelief” is faith, and your faith is soul-light;
you are safe—and through you, a whole world is safe.
ای معاف یفعل الله ما یشا
بیمحابا رو زبان را برگشا
Translation:
You are excused—God does whatever He wills;
go on: open your tongue without fear.
گفت ای موسی از آن بگذشتهام
من کنون در خون دل آغشتهام
Translation:
He said, “Moses, I’ve gone beyond all that;
now I’m drenched in the heart’s own blood.”
من ز سدرهٔ منتهی بگذشتهام
صد هزاران ساله زان سو رفتهام
Translation:
“I have passed beyond the Lote-Tree at the farthest boundary;
I have gone beyond it for hundreds of thousands of years.”
تازیانه بر زدی اسپم بگشت
گنبدی کرد و ز گردون بر گذشت
Translation:
“You struck your whip—my mount bolted;
it vaulted like a dome and leapt past the heavens.”
محرم ناسوت ما لاهوت باد
آفرین بر دست و بر بازوت باد
Translation:
“May the unseen become intimate with our earthly life;
blessing on your hand, blessing on your arm.”
حال من اکنون برون از گفتن است
اینچ میگویم نه احوال من است
Translation:
“My state now lies outside of words;
what I’m saying isn’t truly my state.”
نقش میبینی که در آیینهایست
نقش توست آن نقش آن آیینه نیست
Translation:
“The image you see inside the mirror—
that image is yours; it isn’t the mirror’s.”
دم که مرد نایی اندر نای کرد
درخور نایست نه درخورد مرد
Translation:
“The breath a reed-player blows into the reed
fits the reed—not the man behind it.”
هان و هان گر حمد گویی گر سپاس
همچو نافرجام آن چوپان شناس
Translation:
So beware, beware: whether you praise or give thanks,
know yourself like that unlucky shepherd—limited, human.
حمد تو نسبت بدان گر بهترست
لیک آن نسبت به حق هم ابترست
Translation:
Even if your praise seems finer than his by comparison,
that comparison still falls short when set beside God.
چند گویی چون غطا برداشتند
کاین نبودهست آنک میپنداشتند
Translation:
How long will you say—once the veil is lifted—
“It wasn’t what we thought it was”?
این قبول ذکر تو از رحمت است
چون نماز مستحاضه رخصت است
Translation:
This acceptance of your remembrance is pure mercy—
like a concession granted for a prayer made under hardship.
با نماز او بیالودهست خون
ذکر تو آلودهٔ تشبیه و چون
Translation:
Her prayer is stained with blood;
your remembrance is stained with “likening” and “how.”
خون پلید است و به آبی میرود
لیک باطن را نجاستها بود
Translation:
Blood is impure—and water can wash it away;
but the inner self has its own filth.
کان به غیر آب لطف کردگار
کم نگردد از درون مرد کار
Translation:
And that, except by the water of the Creator’s grace,
does not diminish from within a person.
در سجودت کاش روگردانیی
معنی سبحان ربی دانیی
Translation:
If only, in your prostration, you would turn away from yourself,
you would know what “Subḥāna Rabbī” really means.
کای سجودم چون وجودم ناسزا
مر بدی را تو نکویی ده جزا
Translation:
It means: “My bowing—my very being—is unworthy,
yet You repay my evil with goodness.”
این زمین از حلمِ حق دارد اثر
تا نجاست بُرد و گلها داد بَر
Translation:
This earth bears the mark of God’s forbearance:
it carries off filth, and brings forth flowers.
تا بپوشد او پلیدیهای ما
در عوض بر روید از وی غنچهها
Translation:
It covers our impurities—
and in return, buds rise up from it.
پس چو کافر دید کاو در داد و جود
کمتر و بیمایهتر از خاک بود
Translation:
Then the unbeliever saw that in generosity
he was poorer, emptier, less than dust.
از وجود او گل و میوه نَرُست
جز فساد جمله پاکیها نجُست
Translation:
From his existence no flower or fruit would grow;
he sought no purity—only corruption.
گفت واپس رفتهام من در ذهاب
حَسْرَتا، یا لَیْتَنی کُنْتُ تُراب
Translation:
He said, “I’ve fallen back on this road I took—
alas—if only I were dust!”
کاش از خاکی سفر نگزیدمی
همچو خاکی دانهای میچیدمی
Translation:
If only I hadn’t left the station of dust;
like dust, I would have gathered a seed.”
چون سفر کردم، مرا راه آزمود
زین سفرکردن رهآوردم چه بود؟
Translation:
“When I set out, the road tested me—
what did I bring back from all this travelling?”
زان همه میلش سوی خاک است کو
در سفر سودی نبیند پیش رو
Translation:
That’s why his longing turns toward dust again—
he sees no gain ahead in going on.
روی واپس کردنش آن حرص و آز
روی در ره کردنش صدق و نیاز
Translation:
Turning back comes from greed and appetite;
moving forward comes from sincerity and need.
هر گیا را کش بود میلِ عُلا
در مَزید است و حیات و در نُما
Translation:
Any plant that yearns upward
lives in increase—life and growth and rising.
چونک گردانید سر سوی زمین
در کمی و خشکی و نقص و غبین
Translation:
But when it turns its head toward the ground,
it falls into smallness, dryness, lack, and loss.
میل روحت چون سوی بالا بود
در تَزایُد مرجعت آنجا بود
Translation:
When your spirit’s desire is toward what’s above,
your return is there—your increase is there.
ور نگوساری سرت سوی زمین
آفِلی، حَق لا یُحِبُّ الْآفِلین
Translation:
And if you bend your head down toward the earth,
you are a “setting one”—and God does not love what sets
