After freeing the Israelites from the slavery of Pharaoh, Moses on his way towards the Promised Land spent some time in the Sinai Desert. There he left his brother Aaron in charge of the community and went towards what is known today as Mount of Moses (jabal al musa, koh-e-toor) on God’s Will. There, he spent forty days and forty nights and received the Torah.

This event is mentioned in the Qur’an (Koran) in these words:

“And We promised Moses thirty nights and added ten more nights, then the period of your Lord was completed with forty nights.”

Moses spent the entire forty days and nights there but what is interesting is that God only used the term ‘night’ but the day was not even mentioned. According to Sufism, ‘night’ is the name of those senses (nocturnal senses) that are responsible for the hidden revelations. During Muraqaba, the human senses are influenced by the nocturnal senses and the person is then able to observe the world after freeing himself from the clutches of Time and Space. During those forty days and nights, Moses was dominated by the nocturnal senses and therefore his mind was able to witness the hidden Reality and Divine Messages.