Be Like the Fruit-Bearing Tree

BE LIKE THE FRUIT-BEARING TREE A believer is like a fruit-bearing tree. Whatever he finds in this world, he returns in a better form. This shows human perfection. I t is recorded in a tradition that the Prophet of Islam once observed: “There is one of the trees which may be compared to a believer.” Then he said, “This is the date tree or date palm.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 72) What is the significance of the date tree and other such fruit-bearing trees? It is that these trees take their sustenance from the earth, the air and the sun. In this way by using all the resources around it, a tree replete with fruit stands on the earth like a force of nature. It takes all the elements nature offers and then converts them into that more precious and more beneficial thing called a fruit. Then this fruit is not meant just for them but is rather meant for others to eat as food and derive energy from.