Sidrat al-Muntaha

A page of Bustan by the Persian poet Saadi Shirazi telling the story of the lote tree
Wild Ziziphus spina-christi tree in Behbahan, Iran

The Sidrat al-Muntaha (Arabic: سِدْرَة ٱلْمُنْتَهَىٰ, romanized: Sidrat al-Muntahā, lit. 'Lote Tree of the Farthest Boundary') in Islamic theology is a large lote or sidr tree (Ziziphus spina-christi) [1] that marks the utmost boundary in the seventh heaven, where the knowledge of the angels ends. During the Isra and Mi'raj, (Muhammad's physical journey from Masjid Al-Haram to al-Aqsa, and then from Masjid al-Aqsa, the ascension towards the Heavens and eventually meeting God) Muhammad is said to have travelled with the angel Gabriel to the tree where Gabriel stopped while, beyond the tree, God instructed Muhammad about the salah (five daily prayers).[2]

The Lote Tree of the Furthest Boundary is also used to refer to the Manifestation of God several times in Bahá’í literature.[3]

  1. ^ Quran 53:14
  2. ^ el-Aswad, el-Sayed (30 December 2002). Religion and Folk Cosmology: Scenarios of the Visible and Invisible in Rural Egypt. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-89789-924-6.
  3. ^ Bayat, Ehsan (2003). "Sadratu'l-Muntahá by The Báb, Bahá'u'lláh, Abdu'l-Bahá, and The Qur'án". Retrieved February 9, 2023.