According to the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

, Zaqqoum or Zaqqum ( ar, زقوم) is a tree that "springs out of the bottom of Hell". It is mentioned in verses 17:60 (as the "cursed tree"), 37:62-68, 44:43, and 56:52, of the Quran.

Religious references

The Qur'an says: : 4.43Surely the tree of Zaqqum, : 4.44Is the food of the

sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

ful : 4.45Like dregs of oil; it shall boil in (their) bellies, : 4.46Like the boiling of hot water. The fruits of ''Zaqqum'' are shaped like heads of devils (Qur'an 37:62-68). Some

Islamic scholar In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of reli ...

s believe in a literal meaning of this tree grown in fire, showing the inverted flora of

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

. The inhabitants of hell are forced to eat the tree's fruits, which tears their bodies apart and releases bodily fluids as a punishment. According to

Umar Sulayman Al-Ashqar Umar Sulaiman Al-Ashqar (1940 - 10 August 2012: Arabic: عمر بن سليمان الاشقر) was a Salafi Muslim Brotherhood scholarOvamir Anjum1 ''Salafis and Democracy: Doctrine and Context '' p. 21 who served as a professor in the Faculty of ...

, a leading

Salafi The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generat ...

scholar and professor at the

University of Jordan The University of Jordan ( ar, الجامعة الأردنية), often abbreviated UJ, is a public university located in Amman, Jordan. Founded in 1962 by royal decree, it is the largest and oldest institution of higher education in Jordan. ...

, once the palate of the sinners is satiated, the fruit in their bellies churns like burning oil. Other scholars suggest the tree is grown by the seeds of the evil deeds of the sinners, therefore the devilish fruits are the fruits of their bad actions during lifetime; as

Ibn Arabi Ibn ʿArabī ( ar, ابن عربي, ; full name: , ; 1165–1240), nicknamed al-Qushayrī (, ) and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn (, , 'Sultan of the Knowers'), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influenti ...

stated, the tree stands for the arrogant

self The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhood ...

Botany

The name ''zaqqum'' has been applied to the species ''

Euphorbia abyssinica ''Euphorbia abyssinica'', commonly known as the desert candle or candelabra spurge, is a species of plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. ''E. abyssinica'' is endemic to Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea. It was first described in 1791, by the G ...

'' by the

Beja people The Beja people ( ar, البجا, Beja: Oobja, tig, በጃ) are an ethnic group native to the Eastern Desert, inhabiting a coastal area from southeastern Egypt through eastern Sudan and into northwestern Eritrea. They are descended from peop ...

in eastern

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

. In

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, it is applied to the species ''

Balanites aegyptiaca ''Balanites aegyptiaca'' (also known as the Egyptian balsam) is a species of tree, classified as a member of either the Zygophyllaceae or the Balanitaceae. This tree is native to much of Africa and parts of the Middle East. There are many comm ...

''.The Waters That Heal
Kirk Albrecht and Bill Lyons, ''Saudi Aramco World'', March/April 1995, pp. 34–39. In Turkey, zakkum is the vernacular for ''

Nerium oleander ''Nerium oleander'' ( ), most commonly known as oleander or nerium, is a shrub or small tree cultivated worldwide in temperate and subtropical areas as an ornamental and landscaping plant. It is the only species currently classified in the ge ...

''; and
zıkkım
', a Turkish cognate, means "poison".

References

{{Qur'anic people Trees in mythology Trees in Islam Jahannam