Ṭūbā

Ṭūbā (Arabic: طُـوْبَىٰ‎, lit. 'blessedness') is a term often associated with a tree that Muslims believe grows in Al-Jannah (Arabic: ٱلْـجَـنَّـة‎, the Islamic Heaven).

The term is only mentioned once in the Quran[1] in the context of blessedness and is not mentioned as a tree by name. The only other source that relates the arguably same term to a tree is a hadith.[2]

The term has caught the imagination of writers over the years. Sohrevardi developed a story surrounding the old Persian mythology and suggests that it is indeed a tree in heaven where the mythical bird Simurgh lay eggs.[3] Similarly, in 1449, Mehmed Yazıcıoğlu wrote of a similar tree in his manuscript Muhammediye:[4][5]

In its courtyard's riven center, planted he the Tuba-Tree;

That a tree which hangeth downward, high aloft its roots are there: Thus its radiance all the Heavens lighteth up from end to end, Flooding every tent and palace, every lane and every square. Such a tree the Tuba, that the Gracious One hath in its sap Hidden whatsoe'er there be of gifts and presents good and fair; Forth therefrom crowns, thrones, and jewels, yea, and steeds and coursers come, Golden leaves and clearest crystals, wines most pure beyond compare. For his sake there into being hath he called the Tuba-Tree,

That from Ebu-Qasim's hand might every one receive his share.

According to Islamic tradition, the wife of Muhammed asked him why he was kissing his daughter Fatimah. He replied that during his ascension to Paradise, he had eaten the fruits of Tuba, and that after his return to Earth, Fatimah was conceived, with the result that whenever he kissed her, he smelled the fragrance of that tree.[6] The holy city of Touba, Senegal, is named for the tree.

The Arabic female given name Tuba or Touba derives from the tree. Tuba (often spelt "Tuğba") is also a modern Arabic borrowing into Turkish and has become a common female name since the 1970s.[7]