According to the Quran, ZaqqoumorZaqqum (Arabic: زقوم) is a tree that "springs out of the bottom of Hell". It is mentioned in verses 17:60 (as the "cursed tree"),[1] 37:62-68,[2] 44:43,[3] and 56:52,[4] of the Quran.[5]
The fruits of Zaqqum are shaped like heads of devils (Qur'an 37:62-68). Some Islamic scholars believe in a literal meaning of this tree grown in fire, showing the inverted flora of hell. The inhabitants of hell are forced to eat the tree's fruits, which tears their bodies apart and releases bodily fluids as a punishment. According to Umar Sulaiman Al-Ashqar, a leading Muslim Brotherhood scholar and professor at the University of Jordan, once the palate of the sinners is satiated, the fruit in their bellies churns like burning oil. Other scholars suggest the tree is grown by the seeds of the evil deeds of the sinners, therefore the devilish fruits are the fruits of their bad actions during their lifetime. As ibn Arabi stated, the tree stands for the arrogant self.[7][8]
”species called Zakkoun, which produces a sweet oil, also celebrated for healing wounds. This Zakkoun resembles a plum-tree; it has thorns four inches long, with leaves like those of the olive-tree, but narrower greener, and prickly at the end; its fruit is a kind of acorn, without calix, under the bark of which is a pulp, and then a nut, the kernel of which gives an oil that the Arabs sell very dear : this is the sole commerce of Raha, which is no more than a ruinous village."[11]
^Trees in the Koran and the Bible, L. J. Musselman, Unasylva: an international journal of forestry and forest industries, #213: Perceptions of forests (54, #2, 2003).
^The Waters That Heal, Kirk Albrecht and Bill Lyons, Saudi Aramco World, March/April 1995, pp. 34–39.
