AmericanBadu

🌴Atleast 6,000 years of of cultivation.

I recently read an article from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew discussing the ancient history of date palms.

As it so happens The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is thought to have been domesticated around 4000–3000 BCE in Mesopotamia and the Arabian Gulf.

Archaeological finds in Iraq (Ur, Eridu) and Bahrain (Dilmun) show date stones used as early food sources and in rituals.

Ancient Egyptians depicted date palms in tombs and temples, and hieroglyphs even used the palm as a timekeeping symbol (counting years by palm notches).

By the 1st millennium BCE, oases across Arabia (Al-Ahsa, Khaybar, Tayma, and the Hejaz) were heavily planted with palms.

The Smithsonian Institution added that “The Prophet was once reported to have said, “People in a house without dates are in a state of hunger.”

Dates boast many vital nutrients, plus they are fat-free, cholesterol-free, and sodium-free. They contain vitamin A and numerous B-complex vitamins necessary for building healthy body tissue and muscle.

Dates also contain many minerals, including magnesium, iron, phosphorous, copper, calcium and potassium. One date contains more potassium per weight than a banana. Additionally, dates have high sugar intake, making them Mother Nature’s candy for mortals.

But that is not all.

In Verse 19:22 in the Quran the date palm will be a source of strenghth to the Virgin Mary Herself.

فَحَمَلَتْهُ فَٱنتَبَذَتْ بِهِۦ مَكَانًۭا قَصِيًّۭا

So SHE conceived HIM and withdrew with HIM to a remote place.

فَأَجَآءَهَا ٱلْمَخَاضُ إِلَىٰ جِذْعِ ٱلنَّخْلَةِ قَالَتْ يَـٰلَيْتَنِى مِتُّ قَبْلَ هَـٰذَا وَكُنتُ نَسْيًۭا مَّنسِيًّۭا

Then the pains of labor drove her to the trunk of a date palm. She cried, “Alas! I wish I had died before this, and was a thing long forgotten!”

فَنَادَىٰهَا مِن تَحْتِهَآ أَلَّا تَحْزَنِى قَدْ جَعَلَ رَبُّكِ تَحْتَكِ سَرِيًّۭا

A voice assured her Do not grieve! Your Lord has provided a stream at your feet

وَهُزِّىٓ إِلَيْكِ بِجِذْعِ ٱلنَّخْلَةِ تُسَـٰقِطْ عَلَيْكِ رُطَبًۭا جَنِيًّۭا

And shake the trunk of this palm tree towards you, it will drop fresh, ripe dates upon you.

That being said, there were many cultivated plants available —figs, olives, pomegranates, sidr, moringa. Yet Maryam, peace be upon her, is guided to lean on the date palm.

Surely it is a plant that reminds of endurance and nourishment and of providence.