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The Sidrah (Lote-Tree)
and the Sidrat al-Muntaha (Lote-Tree of the Extremity): Some Aspects of
their Islamic and Babi-Baha'i Interpretations.
Stephen Lambden
ABSTRACT
THE
السِّدْرَةَ
SIDRAH (LOTE-TREE)
AND
سِدْرَةِ الْمُنْتَهَى
SIDRAT
AL-MUNTAHĀ, (LOTE-TREE OF THE EXTREMITY)
SOME ASPECTS OF THEIR ISLAMIC AND BĀBĪ-BAHĀ'Ī
INTERPRETATIONS
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The Sidrah (Lote-Tree) and Sidrat al-Muntaha
(Lote-Tree of the Extremity) are severaL times mentioned in the
Qur'an. The following are the three all Meccan Suras in which these
references are found.
In summary, the term
sidrah (pl. [coll.] sidr), "lote-trees" ) is used four
times in three Meccan sūras of the Qur'ān, twice in the singular
(53:14,16) and twice in the plural (34:16 [15] and 56:28 [27]).
Thus,
Sūrat al-Sabā' ("The Surah of Sheba")
Qur'ān 34:16
فَأَعْرَضُوا
فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ سَيْلَ الْعَرِمِ وَبَدَّلْنَاهُم
بِجَنَّتَيْهِمْ جَنَّتَيْنِ ذَوَاتَى أُكُلٍ خَمْطٍ وَأَثْلٍ
وَشَيْءٍ مِّن
سِدْرٍ قَلِيلٍ
Yet they
turned away [from God] so We sent the flood of `Iram
[the dams] upon them, and substituted their two
gardens for two "gardens" yielding bitter fruit,
tamarisk and something from scattered
lote-trees
(shay' in min sidr qalīl)...
Sūrat al-Wāqi'ah
("The Event")
Qur'ān
56:28
وَأَصْحَابُ
الْيَمِينِ مَا أَصْحَابُ الْيَمِين ِفِي
سِدْرٍ
مَّخْضُود وَطَلْحٍ مَّنضُودٍ وَظِلٍّ مَّمْدُود
وَمَاء
مَّسْكُوبٍ
And the
companions of the right-hand! What then are the
companions of the right-hand? [They are such as
shall dwell amidst] thornless
lote-trees
(fi sidr makhḍūd)...
Sūrat al-Najm
("The Surah of the Star")
Qur'ān
53:13-16
(وَلَقَدْ رَآهُ
نَزْلَةً أُخْرَى (13)
عِندَ
سِدْرَةِ الْمُنْتَهَى
(14)
عِندَهَا جَنَّةُ الْمَأْوَى
(15) إِذْ يَغْشَى
السِّدْرَةَ
مَا يَغْشَى (16
I
[Muhammad] had indeed seen him [Gabriel]
descending another time, nigh the
Sidrat al-Muntahā (Lote-Tree of
the Extremity"), nearby the Garden of
Repose (jannat al-māwā), when there
encompassed the Sidrah (Lote-Tree) that
which covered it...
These
qur'anic verses have it that scattered lote-trees (sidr)
formed part of what grew in the "bitter" substitute
gardens of Sheba (34:16) According to the sūrah of "The
Event" (al-wāqi`ah, 56) it seems that a select
group of the righteous will, in the future paradise,
dwell amidst "thornless lote-trees" (fī sidr in
makhḍūd). It is in the Sūrat al-Najm (Surah
of the Star) (Q. 53) in which reference is made to the
Sidrat al-Muntahā or to the "Lote-Tree" which is
in some sense "beyond" or at "the extremity", "the
limit", perhaps indicting an "ultimate location" in
Paradise. Early interpreted relative to the mi`raj of
the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632 CE) It is this latter
reference (in Q. 53) which has been given detailed
interpretations in Sunni and Shi`i Islamic literatures
as well as in Babi and Baha'i scriptural writings. In
this paper some details will be set down regarding these
interpretations including their mystical or allegorical
senses in select Sufi writings and in a range of Arabic
and Persian writings and Tablets of the Bab and
Baha'u'llah.
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