Sidrat al-Muntaha
The Sidrat al-Muntaha in Islamic tradition is a large Cedrus or lote tree that marks the utmost boundary in the seventh heaven, where the knowledge of the angels ends. During the Isra' and Mi'raj, when Muhammad entered Heaven alive, Muhammad is said to have travelled with the Archangel Gabriel to the tree where Gabriel stopped. Beyond the tree, God instructed Muhammad about the salah.
The Lote Tree of the Furthest Boundary is also used to refer to the Manifestation of God several times in Bahá’í literature.
Quran
The tree is also referred to in Sura 53 verse 14–16, Sura 34 verse 16 and Sura 56, verse 28.Sura 53, verses 11-18 reads:
Sura 34, verses 15-17 reads:
Sura 56, verses 27-34 reads:
Meaning
A tafsir entitled Tafsīr al-karīm al-raḥman fī tafsīr kalām al-manān by the Salafi scholar Abdul-Rahman al-Sa'di, while commenting on said:Abdullah Yusuf Ali, whose The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary is among the most widely known English versions of the Qur'an, explained that this tree "marked the bounds of heavenly knowledge as revealed to men, beyond which neither Angels nor men could pass."
George Sale, the 18th century English scholar, has "beyond which Angels themselves must not pass; or, as some rather imagine, beyond which no creature's knowledge can extend." Sale also notes that one commentator states that line 16 refers to the "host of angels worshipping" around the tree and another that it is about the birds which sit on its branches.
The 19th-century English explorer Richard Burton reported seeing an ancient Sidr tree in Al-Masjid Al-Nabawi in Madinah, in a garden dedicated to Muhammad's daughter Fatima. The fruit from the tree was being sold to pilgrims and its leaves used for washing dead bodies.