The ''Sidrat al-Muntaha'' () in

Islamic tradition The term Islamic tradition may refer to: *Traditionalist theology (Islam), Islamic Traditionalist theology, Islamic scholarly movement, originating in the late 8th century CE *''Ahl al-Hadith'', "The adherents of the tradition" *Traditional Islami ...

is a large

Cedrus ''Cedrus'', with the common English name cedar, is a genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae (subfamily Abietoideae). They are native to the mountains of the western Himalayas and the Mediterranean region, occurring at altitud ...

or lote tree (''

Ziziphus spina-christi ''Ziziphus spina-christi'', known as the Christ's thorn jujube, is a thorny and an evergreen tree or plant native to the Levant, East Africa, and Mesopotamia. Ecology In the Levant, it grows in valleys up to an elevation of 500 m, and is d ...

'') that marks the utmost boundary in the seventh heaven, where the knowledge of the angels ends. During the

Isra' and Mi'raj The Israʾ and Miʿraj (, ') are the names given to the narrations that the prophet Muhammad ascended to the sky during a night journey, saw Allah and the afterlife, and returned. It is believed that expressions without a subject in verses 1-18 of ...

, when

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

entered Heaven alive, Muhammad is said to have travelled with the

Archangel Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

to the tree where Gabriel stopped. Beyond the tree,

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

instructed Muhammad about the

salah ''Salah'' (, also spelled ''salat'') is the practice of formal worship in Islam, consisting of a series of ritual prayers performed at prescribed times daily. These prayers, which consist of units known as ''rak'ah'', include a specific s ...

(daily prayers). The Lote Tree of the Furthest Boundary is also used to refer to the Manifestation of God several times in Bahá’í literature.

Quran

The tree is also referred to in Sura 53 verse 14–16, Sura 34 verse 16 and Sura 56, verse 28. Sura 53, verses 11-18 reads: Sura 34, verses 15-17 reads: Sura 56, verses 27-34 reads:

Meaning

tafsir Tafsir ( ; ) refers to an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' (; plural: ). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding ...

entitled ''Tafsīr al-karīm al-raḥman fī tafsīr kalām al-manān'' by the

Salafi The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a fundamentalist revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" is a self-designation, claiming a retu ...

scholar

Abdul-Rahman al-Sa'di Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Nasser Al-Saadi (), also known as al-Siʿdī (1889–1957), was an List of contemporary Islamic scholars, Islamic Scholar from Saudi Arabia. He was a teacher and an author in Unaizah, Saudi Arabia. He authored more than 40 ...

(d. 1957), while commenting on said:Lambden, Stephen. (2009).
The Sidrah (Lote-Tree) and the Sidrat al-Muntaha (Lote-Tree of the Extremity)
'.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali Abdullah Yusuf Ali (; 14 April 1872 – 10 December 1953) was an Indian-British barrister who wrote a number of books about Islam, including an exegesis of the Qur'an. A supporter of the British war effort during World War I, Ali received the C ...

, whose '' The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary'' is among the most widely known English versions of the Qur'an, explained that this tree "marked the bounds of heavenly knowledge as revealed to men, beyond which neither Angels nor men could pass." Abdullah, Yusuf Ali (1946) ''The Holy Qur-an: Text, Translation and Commentary'', Qatar National Printing Press. p.1139,n.3814

George Sale George Sale (1697–1736) was a British Orientalist scholar and practising solicitor, best known for his 1734 translation of the Quran into English. In 1748, after having read Sale's translation, Voltaire wrote his own essay "De l'Alcoran et ...

, the 18th century English scholar, has "beyond which Angels themselves must not pass; or, as some rather imagine, beyond which no creature's knowledge can extend." Sale also notes that one commentator states that line 16 refers to the "host of angels worshipping" around the tree and another that it is about the birds which sit on its branches. The 19th-century English explorer

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his mellifluous baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s and gave a memor ...

reported seeing an ancient Sidr tree in Al-Masjid Al-Nabawi in Madinah, in a garden dedicated to Muhammad's daughter

Fatima Fatima bint Muhammad (; 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fatima al-Zahra' (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun caliphs and the first Shia imam. ...

. The fruit from the tree was being sold to pilgrims and its leaves used for washing dead bodies.

Use as a symbol

The lote-tree is used as a symbol, for example, by the

Qatar Foundation The Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development () is a state-led non-profit organization in Qatar, founded in 1995 by then-List of emirs of Qatar, emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and his second wife Moza bint Nasser Al-Miss ...

: "The Sidra tree, growing strong and proud in the harshest of environments, has been a symbol of perseverance and nourishment across the borders of the Arab world. What is the significance of this glorious tree? With its roots bound in the soil of this world and its branches reaching upwards toward perfection, it is a symbol of solidarity and determination; it reminds us that the goals of this world are not incompatible with the goals of the spirit." The evergreen tree ''

'' represents this symbol in natural form.

References

External links

Glossary of Islamic terms

{{Heaven Arabic words and phrases Islamic eschatology Islamic terminology Bahá'í terminology Trees in Islam

Quran

Meaning

Use as a symbol

See also

References

Further reading

External links