ACCOUNT OF MÛSA’S STAFF AND ITS PROPERTIES.

Some of the qualities of Mûsa’s rod have been narrated above in these pages, and were taken from the Munâhaj-us-sâlakeen. In the Jâmi’ Aa’zim it is related that the staff of Mûsa was of Môz-wood, and was as tall as his own stature. Some say it was thirty or forty cubits high, and had descended from Adam to Shoa’ib by way of inheritance. It had two branches, and its lower part was an iron spear. According to the tradition of Sa’id, the son of Jabir, its name was Mâsâsut, but Moqâtol calls it Naqa’a; whilst Ebn Hayân surnamed it A’iath, and others A’tiq. When Mûsa became fatigued in his travels he rode on it, and it ran like an Arab horse. In darkness it shone like a lamp. When he was thirsty he let it down into a well, whereon it became elongated; a bucket appeared at its extremity, and water could be drawn. When he became hungry, food sufficient for one day appeared on any wall to which he pointed. If he wished for fruit he fixed his staff in the ground, whereon it was transmuted into a fruit-bearing tree. When he wanted perfume, it exhaled the fragrance of musk and ambergris. If he desired to fight an enemy it transmuted itself into a terrible dragon, and it is said that every time Mûsa threw it upon the ground it became a very black serpent, from which hands and feet protruded; its throat contained twelve teeth, sharp like swords and javelins. It vomited fire; its eyes sparkled like lightning; the wind, Simûm, blew from its nostrils, and its motions caused the ears to tingle as when fire was being kindled. Its total length from head to tail was eighty cubits; its body was studded with hairs, resembling thorns of the desert, and bristling so that the hardest stones thrown against them only rebounded without injuring the monster. When it erected its head skywards it looked like a black spire, and the circumference of its body was like that of a dromedary. Notwithstanding its size, it combined the length of a dragon with the agility and levity of a snake. The Lord of Majesty—w. n. b. e.—has in many places mentioned it in the glorious Qurân, as for instance, ‘and behold it became a visible serpent,’* etc. Besides the properties just enumerated it was also endowed with others, to detail which would prolong this account greatly.