Ta-Ha 12: “Verily, I am Allah! Yes I am your Lord! Take off your sandals! Because you are in the holy valley of Tuwa.”

Surah Taha, verse 12. Allah Almighty calls out to Moses (peace be upon him) in Tuwa. As you know, while Moses (peace be upon him), together with his children, was coming towards Egypt in the dark of night, he sees a fire and goes towards this fire. I will find you, well, a fire from there, or else a guide that will light our way, he says. He goes towards the fire. In the verse: Truly I, yes I, am your Lord; take off your shoes at once, for you are in the sacred valley of Tuwa, says Allah Almighty in His verse.

Why? Sacred Tuwa, that is, the sacredness of the place, where does it come from? Because of Allah Almighty's manifestation in Tuwa to Moses, His manifestation, His divine light being seen in Tuwa, because of it being seen with the physical eye, it becomes a sacred valley. Its sacredness comes from this. Not from anything else. For example, why is the House of Allah sacred for us? It is sacred because it is Allah Almighty's house, His home. Well, in Tuwa, because Allah Almighty's divine light was seen there with physical eyes, its sacredness comes about. No one can see Allah Almighty in His attribute of beauty with the physical eye, except for the state after leaving this world.

Because the world is a (?) realm. For example, the Prophet saw Allah Almighty with his physical eyes during the Mi'raj. This has been granted to no one other than the Prophet.

Why does He say take off your shoes? The reason is that one cannot come into Allah Almighty's presence with impurity. And since shoes, on the earth, get soiled with many impurities or with some kinds of dirt, He says: come into My presence clean, that is, take off your shoes. Don't we too take off our shoes when we pray, in the divine presence? Isn't that so? We cannot come before our Lord with impurity either. We come having cleansed ourselves. Yes.

What are we saying? After saying 'O Moses' to Moses (peace be upon him), Allah Almighty addressed him: Truly I, yes I, am your Lord. Now pay attention to the word here. Yes, I am your Lord. So He says: truly I, I. Yes, I. So He is strengthening the statement. There is an emphasis here. That is, with great stress. Without leaving any way out: I am your Lord. Take off your shoes at once. For you are in the sacred valley of Tuwa. After saying 'O Moses', Allah Almighty said: Truly I, yes I, am your Lord, addressing him. Faced with this miracle he saw, Moses understands that it is his Lord. Allah Almighty continues in His address: take off your shoes at once.

Your shoes. For you are in the sacred valley of Tuwa, He says. Hearing this address, Moses at once takes off his shoes and throws them to the other side of the valley. The sacredness of the valley of Tuwa comes from Allah Almighty manifesting Himself with His divine light to Moses (peace be upon him) in this valley.

But when he saw the fire, when he understood this fire to be Allah Almighty's divine light, further, behind it and at its sides, many people too Moses sees. Some, or let's say in human form. He also sees many beings. In rows like this. Yes. Let's say standing in a row. Not row upon row, but standing in a row. Meaning a few persons. As for taking off the shoes, it is because one may not come into Allah Almighty's presence with anything impure. Since the shoe is always in contact with the soil, it is in contact with the impurities on the ground. For this reason, when we worship, we too take off our shoes and, if impurity has got onto our clothes, we cleanse ourselves of it.

Then we stand in worship. This shows our respect and reverence towards Allah Almighty. It shows our reverence. Yes.