The Sidra and Sidrat al-Muntahā (Lote Tree and Lote Tree of the Extremity)

in the writings of Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-'Arabī (d. 638/1240) and select disciples or members of his school.

IN PROGRESS 2009-10

Stephen Lambden (Ohio University)

        The Spanish born  and widely travelled Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-`Arabī (d. 638/1240) was and remains a pivotal, central figure in Islamic mysticism. He was a prolific commentator on numerous Qur'an and hadith texts. His multi-faceted theological, philosophical and mystical insights are brilliantly expressed in several hundred writings of great intellectual magnitude and creative insight. He felt himself especially guided by God through the persons of such past preeminent prophet figures as Jesus and Muhammad. An outspoken and controversial mystical philosopher he was a highly influential figure whose thoughts are registered and commented upon in numerous post-13th century CE Sunni Sufi mystical and many sometimes related Shi`i philosophical and esoteric circles. Many mystical dimensions of Islamic discourse are indebted to the genius of  Ibn al-`Arabi. He commented in several of his writings on the nature and interpretation of the Sidrat al-Muntaha.  His own mystical mi`raj echoes and at times parallels that  described in the hadith literatures of the Prophet Muhammad. In tis respect it will be appropriate to cite Andrew Rippin's succinct  EI2 synopsis of the Sufi approach to the mi`raj-lote-tree story and motif :

 "In the Sufi՝ description of the quest for the experience of the divine as patterned on the story of the mi'radj, the "lote tree on the boundary" symbolises the point to which knowledge can take the mystic (and up to which point one needs a guide) but beyond which the true experience lies. Other speculations about the tree include the idea that Adam saw-Muhammad's name written on the tree and that the tree is actually composed of the "light of  Muhammad" (nūr Muḥammadī")."

 In the lengthy Futuḥāt al-makkiyya (Meccan Disclosures) the Great Shaykh Ibn al-`Arabi mentions the Sidrah/ Sidrat al-Muntahā around 30-40  times.

ADD HERE

 

 

The Shajarat al-kawn ("The Cosmogonical Tree")

         In his  Shajarat al-kawn ("The Cosmogonical Tree") the great mystic Ibn al-`Arabī (d. 1240)  has much to say  about the celestial universe and the symbolic relationship between aspects of its realities including the Sidrat al-Muntahā.  He speaks of the Sidrat al-Muntahā as a celestial tree which is one of the shoots of the  ideal, archetypal cosmogonical or cosmological Tree.  He further mentions  a fourth "vehicle" (markab) for actualizing a spiritual relationship between the reality of Muhammad and the celestial Throne of God (al-`arsh) aside from (1) the celestial steed Burāq, (2) the Mi`raj (ladder for ascent) and (3) the wings of angelic beings proceeding from heaven to heaven (ajnihat al-malā'ikat  min al-samā' ilā samā');  namely  (4) "the wing[s] (flight) of Gabriel"  (janāḥ jibrā'il) (which incline)  "towards (ilā) the Sidrat al-Muntahā". Having  stated this Ibn al-`Arabī pictures Gabriel as attempting to draw nigh to the Sidrat al-Muntahā (`indahā, cf. Q. 53;13a). The personified  Reality of the  "Lote Tree" then says to Gabriel, "We are the Night" (al-laylat), your guests  (aḍyāfika)". This perhaps indicates the appearance of spectral personifications of the  "darkness" of impenetrability (Shajarat, 350).  ADD

        The Sidrat al-Muntahā also appears as a Reality surrounded by a special class of angels.  All things mundane, the "fruits" of existence, are registered in a related celestial Book (Jeffery tr. 1980: 35). Drawing indirectly on Ibn a-`Arabī   Winter has written,

"it is said that it [the Sidrat al-Muntaha] is a symbol of faith and virtue, and that its fruit represents the experience of the mystic. From its foot four rivers, the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospel and the Qur'ān pour forth; beyond it lie the sphere of the fixed stars and, finally, the lumen gloriae" (Winter tr. 1989: 59 fn.c).

        The Kitāb al-isrā' ilā maqām al-asrā... (The Book of the Night Ascent....)

        The Kitāb al-isrā' ilā maqām al-asrā... (The Book of the Night Ascent unto the realm of the Night Ascent...) of Ibn al-`Arabi  (see Osman Yahya, Historie... vol.1: 320-322, no.313, sometimes also known as the  Kitāb al-mi`rāj) contains a brief section headed and entitled  Sidrat al-Muntahā. Partly cast in the form of an allegorical narrative closely related to the traditional accounts of the Isrā (night ascent) and Mi`raj of Muhammad this section is introduced as follows:

The mystic wayfarer ( al-salik) said: "So the Burāq (celestial steed) turned back and went forth from the seventh stratum [of Paradise] (al-sab` al-ṭāq) whereupon the Messenger [Muhammad] cast forth the [miraculous] writhing rod (`aṣā al-tasyār) (cf. Q.        ) into the Lote-Tree of Light (sidrat al-nūr). Then the mystic wayfarer said, `So I enquired of him, "What is this Light and Splendor (nūr wa'l-bahā')? And he replied, `It is the Sidrat al-Muntaha'! ... ADD  (Kitab al-isra, 193).

`Abd al-Razzāq al-Kāshānī (d. 1330 CE)

      The Tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-Karīm  (Commentary upon the Noble Qur'an) attributed to Ibn al-Arabi reflects his often non-literal hermeneutic or mode exegesis  but is actually the work of  his major disciple by `Abd al‑Razzāq al‑Kashānī (d. 1330). The commentary on the Sūrat al-Najm ("The Surah of the Star" = Q. 53) verses 13-16   contains some interesting statements:

"I [Muhammad] had indeed seen him" (وَلَقَدْ رَآهُ) : that is to say, Gabriel (Jibrīl) in his  real Form-Image (fī ṣūratihi al-ḥaqīqat). نَزْلَةً أُخْرَى  (= "descending another time") through a withdrawal from  the Ultimately Real [God] (`ind al-rujū` `an al-ḥaqq) and a descent unto  the realm of the Spirit (maqām al-rūḥ).

 عِندَ سِدْرَةِ الْمُنْتَهَى ("nigh the Sidrat al-Muntahā, the Lote-Tree of the Extremity"). It is said that such is a Tree (shajarat)  in the seventh heaven at which terminates the knowledge of the angels (`ilm al-malā'ikat). And none knows what is beyond it for it marks the termination of the levels of Paradise (marā'tib al-jannat). The [celestial] spirits of the witnesses [martyrs] (arwāḥ al-shuhadā') do seek shelter about it for it is the Most Great Spirit (al-rūḥ al-a`ẓam). There is nothing apportioned beyond it, neither any level or thing placed above it, save the pristine [Divine] Ipseity (al-huwiyya al-mahḍa).  "Wherefore was there descent nigh unto it at the moment of the disassociation from the state of the pure nullification [of self] (al-fanā') unto that of  permanence [in God] (al-baqā'). And he saw nigh it, Gabriel (Jibrīl) -- upon him be peace -- in his form-image (ṣūrat) which he fashioned upon him.

عِندَهَا جَنَّةُ الْمَأْوَى ( jannat al-māwā = "nearby the Garden of Repose"), [indicating the place] wherein sought refuge the spirits of those who are nigh unto God (arwāḥ al-muqarrabin)".(cf. Tafsir Muqatil transalted above).

 إِذْ يَغْشَى السِّدْرَةَ   (idh yaghsha al-sidrat = "when there encompassed the Sidrah (Lote-Tree)" [this covering was] on account of the Sublimity [Glory] of God (min jalāl Allāh) and His Grandeur (`aẓimat),  

  مَا يَغْشَى  (mā yaghsha = "that which covered it"). This in that he [Muhammad] saw it  [the Lote-Tree]  through the eye of God (bi-`ayn Allāh) proximate to (`ind) his own Reality (taḥqīq), [transfigured] in Ultimate Existence (bi'l-wujūd al-ḥaqqānī). He visioned the Real (al-haqq), Self-divulged-transfigured one (mutajalli an) in its-his  "Image-form" (ṣūrat). The Lote Tree (al-sidrah) was indeed enveloped on account of the Divine Self-disclosure [transfiguration] (al-tajallī al-ilāhī) which veiled it and resulted in  a mystical passing away [death] (fanā'). Thus he [Muhammad] saw it [the Lote-Tree] through the  vision which prompted by [his] mystical death (bi-`ayn al-fanā'). He was not veiled thereby for he [Muhammad] experienced its-his "image-form" (ṣūrat) though not through [the intermediary of] Gabriel (jibril)  nor  any Reality  contrary to the Ultimate Reality (al-haqq). ADD   

(Tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-Karīm, vol. 2 : 277-8).

        In the above paragraphs translated from the Tafsir of [Ibn al-`Arabi] al-Kashani, this devotee of Ibn al-`Arabi follows Islamic tradition in locating the Sidrat al-Muntahā in the seventh heaven where even angelic knowledge falls short. Celestial spirits seek refuge about the heavenly "Lote-Tree" since it is in reality the Most Great Spirit (al-rūḥ al-a`ẓam). beyond which there is nothing save the pristine Divine Ipseity , "He-ness" or Self identity (al-huwiyya al-mahḍa). For al-Kashani the qur'anic mention of  نَزْلَةً  "descent" (nazlat) in a visionary context at Q. 53:13, indicates a transition from the spiritual condition of fanā indicating the mystical "death" of the lower "self" to that of baqā' which is indicative of the mystical condition of "permanence" in God.  This verse indicates that the prophet Muhammad's experience of the  divine tajallī,  His self-disclosure or theophany,  was an experience of the divine "image" expressive of His Real Being (al-haqq) beyond the intermediary angelic figure Gabriel.

 

The  aforementioned `Abd al-Razzāq al-Kāshānī (d. 1330 C.E.) wrote a lexicon of Sufi technical terminology entitled al-Iṣṭilaḥāt al-sūfīyyah) ("Sufi Lexicon"). Therein the Sidrat al-Muntahā is said to signify the greatest intermediate realm,  the al-barzakhiyya al-kubrā  or (loosely) "greatest isthmus" at which all knowledge and activity terminates. It is said to be the last of the named spiritual ranks (al-marātib al-asmāiyya) without superior ([p.60 Eng.] p. 83 Arabic [personal trans.]).

`Abd al-Karīm al-Jīlī (d. c.1428 CE),

        In his influential al-Insān al-kāmil. .. ("The Perfect Human" ) `Abd al-Karīm al-Jīlī (d. c.1428 C.E.), a visionary adherent of the school of the "Great Shaykh",  Ibn al-`Arabi,  has a section entitled "About the Sidrat al-Muntahā"  (see text and trans. Appendix below). Therein he writes that this "Tree" signifies the extremity of the locale which created beings reach  in their journey towards God. He, among other things, underlines the literal sense of the traditions about the "Tree of the sidrah" (shajarat al-sidrah) but interprets its esoteric meaning as religious "faith" (al-īmān). This, in the light of a prophetic tradition which reads, "Whoso filleth his belly with nabq  (the fruit of the sidrah)  God filleth his heart with faith [īmān] " (al-Insan,  2:12), (see further Appendix below).