tree of life

THE STORY OF THE TREE OF LIFE

A wise man once told a person, just to test him that in India there is such a tree, that whoever eats of the fruits of that tree, never dies. When the King heard of this, he fell in love with it. He immediately sent a messenger to India to search for this tree. The messenger wandered around in india from place to place in search of this tree. He wandered about in quite a distressed state, but nowhere did he find such a tree. Whenever he enquired from people, they would tell him: Only mad people look for such a tree. They used to jeer and scoff at him. At last when he had became tired of roaming around like that in a foreign country and exhaused by the difficulties of travel, he dicided to return home. He was very disappointed. On his return he met a Qutub Sheikh along the way. He said to the Sheikh: O Sheikh this is a time for mercy and benevolence. I have become helpless and disappointed in my quest. This is a time for your kindness. The Sheikh replied: What is your disappointment And what is the nature of your quest? He replied: My King has given me this job to search for such a tree in India That whosoever eats of its fruits will live fore ever. I have wandered around in India for years and searched everywhere But no sign of it did I find. People jeer at me and consider me a mad one. The Sheikh listened to him,laughed and said: O Saleem, this tree is only the bounty of knowledge. Through knowledge a person finds everlasting life And one without knowledge is a dead one. You have searched for the outer form of knowledge and therefore lost the way. You have been deprived of the form of knowledge too, because you failed to understand the inner meaning. LESSON: The wise man who originally told the story about the tree in India actually compared knowledge to a tree. His aim was to test the listener. Knowledge is an abstract concept and such abstract concepts do not stand by themselves alone. For their existence they require an agent or a place on which to exist. Thus knowledge can only be acuired from the Ulama. The Ulama are the tree. By knowledge is meant only that knowledge which caauses one to reach Allah. The knowledge which is to a means of livelihood and leads to employment in industry and trade, is called industrial knowledge and trade knowledge. True knowledge is only knowledge of deen, through which a person tries to please his Master and thereby acquire a life of honour in both worlds. Without this knowledge a person is a corpse, even if he is alive. For this reason, the wise man knowledge, recognition of Allah (Ma'rifat) is impossible. May Allah grant us true knowledge and grant us the ability to practice according to that knowledge, Ameen.
by Moulana Jalaluddin Rumi (R.A)