Draft:Shajara Ṭayyiba
Shajara Ṭayyiba (Arabic: شَجَرِه طَیِّبِه, literally: good tree) is a pure and blessed tree to which the good word (kalima ṭayyiba) is compared in verses 24 and 25 of Sūrat Ibrāhīm. Characteristics such as growth and development, steadfastness, fruitfulness, and purity have been enumerated for the shajara ṭayyiba. In exegeses, hadith collections, and mystical books, instances such as the existence of the Truth (God), the Ahl al-Bayt (a), knowledge, the Perfect Human, and some trees have been mentioned to correspond to the shajara ṭayyiba.
Conceptology and Status
Shajara ṭayyiba is a pure and blessed tree to which the good word is compared in verses 24 and 25 of Sūrat Ibrāhīm.[1]
Have you not regarded how Allah has drawn a parable? A good word is like a good tree: its roots are steady and its branches are in the sky. It yields its fruit every season by the leave of its Lord. Allah draws these parables for mankind so that they may take admonition. (24-25)
Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn Ṭabāṭabāʾī in Tafsīr al-Mīzān says the result of pondering over these verses is that the meaning of the "good word" which is compared to the "good tree" is the true belief (belief in monotheism and steadfastness upon it) which is fixed and protected from any kind of change, decline, and destruction, and believers, in the world and the Hereafter, will benefit from the effects and blessings of this faith and steadfastness.[2] In Tafsīr-i nimūna, citing the words present in the verse, characteristics for the shajara ṭayyiba have been mentioned:
- It is a creature possessing growth and development, not solid and motionless; (shajara)
- This tree is pure in terms of its fruit, appearance, fragrance, and blossoms; (ṭayyiba)
- It has a calculated system, and each of its roots, trunk, and leaves has a mission and duty; (aṣluhā and farʿuhā)
- Its base and root are fixed and steadfast; (aṣluhā thābit)
- Its branches are not in a low and limited environment, but reach up to the sky; (farʿuhā fī al-samāʾ)
- It is fruitful and productive, and grants its fruit to everyone; (tuʾtī ukulahā)
- Utilizing its fruit at all times; (kulla ḥīn)
- Its yielding of fruit is not uncalculated and is subject to the laws of creation and divine tradition. (bi-idhn rabbihā)[3]
Instances
In exegeses, hadith collections, and mystical books, various instances for the word shajara ṭayyiba have been mentioned, including the existence of the Truth, the Ahl al-Bayt (a), creatures, the Muhammadan Reality, human beings, the Perfect Human, love and affection, knowledge, faith, monotheism, the religion of Islam, the world of light, and some trees.[4] Imam Khomeini also considered the Basij as the sincere army of God, the register of whose formation has been signed by all strivers from the first to the last, and a shajara ṭayyiba and a robust and fruitful tree whose blossoms smell of the spring of union and the freshness of certainty and the story of love, and those trained in it have attained name and distinction in anonymity and namelessness.[5]
- Existence: Existence is one of the important philosophical and mystical terms that has been introduced as one of the instances of the shajara ṭayyiba.[6] Based on this view, existence is exclusively restricted to the existence of the One Truth, and all creatures are manifestations of the existence of the Truth.[7] A theory which has been referred to as the personal unity of existence (waḥdat-i shakhṣī-yi wujūd).[8]
- Ahl al-Bayt (a): In numerous narrations, the meaning of the shajara ṭayyiba has been considered to be the Ahl al-Bayt (a), who have many fruits for society.[9] In the book al-Kāfī, from Imam al-Sadiq (a) in the exegesis of this part of verse 24 of Sūrat Ibrāhīm, "like a good tree: its roots are steady and its branches are in the sky," it is stated that "The Messenger of Allah (s) is its root, the Commander of the Faithful its branch, the Imams from their progeny its twigs, the knowledge of the Imams its fruit, and their believing followers its leaves..."[10]
- Some trees: Many exegetes, citing narrations from the Companions including Ibn ʿAbbās, have introduced the meaning of the shajara ṭayyiba as trees like date palm, pomegranate, olive, grape, or fruitful trees.[11]
Notes
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, 1371 Sh, vol. 10, p. 331.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Mīzān, Manshūrāt Ismāʿīliyān, vol. 12, p. 51.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, 1371 Sh, vol. 10, pp. 333-333.
- ↑ Dastjardī et al., "Nigāhī bi kārbard-i tamthīl-i shajara ṭayyiba dar bāznamūd-i iṣṭilāḥāt-i ʿirfān wa taṣawwuf bā muʿarrifī-yi maṣādīq-i kalima ṭayyiba", pp. 352-360.
- ↑ Imām Khumaynī, Ṣaḥīfa-yi Imām Khumaynī, vol. 21, p. 194.
- ↑ Āmulī, Jāmiʿ al-asrār, 1386 Sh, p. 276.
- ↑ Sayyid Ḥaydar Āmulī, Jāmiʿ al-asrār, 1368 Sh, p. 668.
- ↑ Zarrīnkūb, Arzish-i mīrāth-i ṣūfiyya, 1344 Sh, pp. 145-146.
- ↑ ʿAyyāshī, Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, 1380 AH, vol. 2, p. 225; Al-Kūfī, Tafsīr al-Furāt al-Kūfī, 1410 AH, pp. 219-220.
- ↑ Kulaynī, Al-Kāfī, 1407 AH, vol. 1, p. 428.
- ↑ Fakhr al-Rāzī, Al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, 1420 AH, vol. 19, p. 92.
References
- Al-Kūfī, Furāt b. Ibrāhīm. Tafsīr Furāt al-Kūfī. Edited by Muḥammad Kāẓim. Tehran, Muʾassasa-yi Ṭabʿ wa Nashr-i Wizārat-i Irshād, 1410 AH.
- Āmulī, Sayyid Ḥaydar. Jāmiʿ al-asrār wa manbaʿ al-anwār. Tehran, Intishārāt-i ʿIlmī Farhangī, 1368 Sh.
- ʿAyyāshī, Muḥammad b. Masʿūd al-. Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī. Tehran, Maktabat al-ʿIlmiyyat al-Islāmiyya, 1380 AH.
- Dastjardī, Zuhra, et al. "Nigāhī bi kārbard-i tamthīl-i shajara ṭayyiba dar bāznamūd-i iṣṭilāḥāt-i ʿirfān wa taṣawwuf bā muʿarrifī-yi maṣādīq-i kalima ṭayyiba". Faṣlnāma-yi Bahār-i Adab, no. 2, 1393 Sh.
- Fakhr al-Rāzī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar. Al-Tafsīr al-kabīr. Beirut, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1420 AH.
- Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-. Al-Kāfī. Tehran, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1407 AH.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1371 Sh.
- Zarrīnkūb, ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn. Arzish-i mīrāth-i ṣūfiyya. Tehran, Intishārāt-i Āryā, 1344 Sh.