What does the tree of Zaqqum mean?

The tree of Zaqqum is an image. It stands for the fruit of a life that grew without the heavenly water of religion, and whoever lives that way reaps exactly this fruit in the end.

The Holy Qur’an describes life after death in a language full of images. Gardens, rivers and fruit on one side, fire and a bitter tree on the other. These images carry a deep meaning. They are best understood by asking what they stand for.

Zaqqum is a plant of the desert. It grows in the harshest conditions, where there is no water and hardly any life. That is the key to the image.

In the Holy Qur’an, water that comes down from heaven often stands for God's revelation, which brings hearts to life. Some people live without this heavenly water. Their inner life is like a desert. What grows in such a desert bears fruit that is itself without water.

As they lived, so are the fruits they reap. The tree of Zaqqum is therefore not an arbitrary punishment from outside. It is what naturally grows out of a life without God. The verses above call it the food of the sinful and a trial for those who do wrong.

The lesson is simple. In this life every person plants the tree from which he will later eat. Whoever opens his heart to the water of revelation grows a garden. Whoever closes himself off leaves behind a desert.