Photo by Baraka
By the Fig and the Olive…
We have indeed created humans in the best of molds.
- The Fig, 95: 1-4, Qur’an
Often I perceive what I choose to eat as a political act, but more and more I see it also as a spiritual one, nourishing my soul as well as my body, and burnishing my life with wonder and gratitude as the grand variety of each season’s bounty rolls in. August, of course, is a glorious time in which summer waits to be tasted on platters full of heirloom tomatoes and garlic, or strawberries and peaches.
My hands are used to handling grocery chain produce which neither smells nor yields to the touch, having been plucked unripe and sent into transit, sometimes thousands of miles away. But this fruit, delivered from a local farm, is different. As I stand at the sink washing the figs, they are so ripe that their scent fills the air, and they are literally bursting from their skins, skin that peels away at my slightest touch as if the fig itself actively desires consumption.
These are not the Puritan fruit which most of us in this country are accustomed to eating, which never seem to become fully ripe no matter how much they are coaxed and cajoled. These figs roar of pollinating bees and wasps buzzing, evening breezes cooling days of hot sunshine, and deep roots drinking in fresh water and juicy masses of compost.
Interacting with recently living, fully ripe food – the figs were plucked two days before – does strange things to one’s train of thought. The smallest offerings in nature’s bounty can remind me of the largest, for the micro and macro often mirror each other: the veins on a leaf and those on my hand both look strikingly similar to a satellite shot of rivers and deltas, with all three serving as sources of nourishment.
I’ve often wondered why the fig is mentioned in the Qur’an – not just mentioned but taken as an oath by God. Some scholars dryly ruminate on what an excellent source of fiber figs are, but that doesn’t seem to be enough to induce oath-taking, no matter what a blessing smooth bowels are.
Slicing the fruit open reveals why it might merit a Mention. Hundreds of seeds are ensconced in this flesh; acres of potential trees and future fruit cradled in my palm. The mind swims in the face of such dizzying fecundity, even as the hands are stained faint violet by its juices.
A woman’s ovary and its follicles are fig-like in shape and content, and though we release only one painstaking giant caviar-like egg per month, we hold within us hundreds of thousands of eggs formed while nestled in the figgy womb of our mothers. The ovaries of mothers and daughters are like infinite mirrors reflecting each other endlessly in both directions, showing both actual and potential generations.
Perhaps, I think, popping one into my mouth, figs are also like life: full of choices, each one represented by a seed that will sprout and flourish, or one that will return to the ground and became part of the soil in which other things will grow. Figs, then, are humanity’s potential and free will embodied, each seed representing the road we were created to discover, the person we were meant to become, the life we could decide to start living today.
Scientists theorize that the universe has a limit into which galaxies must someday bump, thus beginning their contraction after billions of years of expansion. Perhaps the universe too is fig-like, galaxies jostling inside like so many delightful seeds, all encased in some celestial filament held lovingly in the cradle of God’s Hands.
13 comments
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August 23, 2008 at 12:35 am
Umm Bilal
Assalamu alaikum,
A brilliant post, Masha’Allah. Such Baraka in all the fruits/food mentioned in the Qur’an.
This is an exceptional lecture series you may be interested to hear, The Miracles of the Fig: http://islamicbookstore.com/a4410.html
“the seeds of the fig are the edible part of the fruit and how the fig tree is one of a few trees in existence that do not have blossoms. Acknowledging the similitude of the human creation and the fig, Shaykh Muhammad eloquently points out that the blossoms of the fig tree are within it, just as the blossom of the believer is within him, in his heart.”
Wassalamu alaikum
August 23, 2008 at 6:08 am
maximus mercury
a thoughtful and delightful stream of consciousness on figs…
Sorry to revert again to our earlier discussion, but your opening lines on how food as spiritual nourishment is the main reason why my heart has not been able to switch from eating zabihah to anything else. I just think: the purpose here is to sustain my soul, my being, my heart which must remain as soft and tender as it can be in order to at least apprehend God’s Grace. And I subscribe to the idea that hearts can harden… Hence my feeble choices to try and protect my own.
I saw all those fresh figs in SF while there this summer…and sadly didn’t try a single one!
Now, what have you to say about the olive?
(Ancient giving trees and wonderful healing properties are my two bytes on it.)
August 23, 2008 at 7:03 am
Brian
A truly beautiful post. Thank you.
August 23, 2008 at 9:58 am
Rachel
Glorious post, Baraka. And oh, what figs! They’re hard to come by here in Massachusetts, though while I was in Jerusalem I ate them as often as I could find them…
I love how much richness you find in the image, and the reality, of the fig. In Jewish tradition the Torah is compared to a fig tree: always giving forth sweetness to those who take the time to look amongst its branches.
August 23, 2008 at 11:32 am
Brian
http://hummingbunny.wordpress.com/2008/08/23/are-you-a-fig/
I wrote a poem based on your post.
August 25, 2008 at 5:53 am
Rebecca
Thank you for stunning writing. Personally, I have felt disappointed and and alittle inadequate that I can’t seem to make room in my own life to put effort into the poetry of ruminative prose. It lightens my heart to read your successful efforts.
August 25, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Baraka
Salaams dear friends and thank you for your comments!
Umm Bilal: “the blossoms of the fig tree are within it, just as the blossom of the believer is within him, in his heart.”
How beautiful! The most moving interpretations of the Qur’an are those inspired by a deep, spiritual understanding of its use of metaphor. Thanks for the link!
MM: I *totally* agree with you on the hardening hearts, which is why I’m reluctant to eat flesh that is formed of fear and suffering. :/ It’s hard to know how to balance it all out without becoming a vegetarian. Which is an option, I suppose.
Kosher food is hard to find on the West Coast but if you happen to be on the East Coast you might want to try Mindful Meat or some other kosher organic place.
As for the olive, Zaytuna Institute has some interesting perspectives on it, including:
As for its fruit, the olive is second only to the fig in Berg’s table of purifying foods. It is unique among the produce of trees in that it is treated by human hands in order for it to become palatable food. The olives are cut and then cured for a long period until they lose their extreme bitterness. This process is a metaphor for human hearts.
Brian: Thank you & I’m touched by your kind words and inspired poetry!
Rachel: Thank you, I’m so glad you enjoyed the post. These figs are sweet as candy, and delightful on their own, or with a wee bit of goat cheese or drizzled with honey too. Mmmm…
In Jewish tradition the Torah is compared to a fig tree: always giving forth sweetness to those who take the time to look amongst its branches.
Simply beautiful!
Rebecca: Thanks so much sweetie, but I feel much like you. I haven’t written any truly reflective prose in months, mainly because I haven’t had the time to think straight with my nieces and nephew visiting from abroad.
But now that they’re gone, I find my mind pooling and collecting thoughts again.
Much love to you all,
Baraka
August 26, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Muse
Only you could make eating a fig seem like an act of beauty. Lovely post!
August 28, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Margari Aziza Hill
Lovely!! You never cease to amaze me with your beautiful imagery and deep reflection. You always present the world in bolder colors and sharper perception.
Here’s my mundane two cents:
I remember being uncomfortable eating figs because in many ways they did remind me of a woman’s reproductive organs. It’s not the only fruit that I’ve had that problem with. There are several other tropical fruit that I could barely handle their strong flavors. I suppose my thinking has been all wrong from the start, instead of being afraid of the overtly feminine quality of these fruits, I should celebrate it. We are merely reflections of the intoxicating sweet muskiness of these rich fruits.
August 29, 2008 at 10:56 am
ayesha
“The smallest offerings in nature’s bounty can remind me of the largest, for the micro and macro often mirror each other: the veins on a leaf and those on my hand both look strikingly similar to a satellite shot of rivers and deltas, with all three serving as sources of nourishment.”
i love you baraka!!!
reminds me of an ISNA speech i heard long ago, in which the speaker connected literally every living thing – including the Qur’an – by its creation from the same Hand…
August 29, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Baraka
Muse: Thank you, dear!
Margari: I know exactly what you mean. I love figs but still their overt fertility and organ-like feel makes me uneasy on some levels. There are some, like a green one that has a wormy texture inside, that I won’t eat.
But I believe that some of it comes from more and more of our food coming at us in processed and packaged forms so that an almost living, new-from-the-dirt, bursting-with-life fruit or vegetable (or even meat) elicits some vague repulsion in us, used to as we are to polished, waxed grocery store perfection. We are so disconnected from how food grows or looks in it natural state that kids these days are often surprised (& disgusted) to find out that crops are grown in dirt!
(“Ewww! I’m drinking grass and dirt!” as my 6-year-old niece recently said when she found out that cows eat grass, which later becomes milk.)
Also, I wonder if because a fruit in full bloom is also on the knife edge of decay, it reminds us on some subconscious level of our own demise and return to the earth.
Ayesha: Yes, that connection makes sense!
Love,
Baraka
September 2, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Yusuf Smith
As-Salaamu ‘alaikum,
Does the fig travel well? I have eaten fresh figs which I bought from markets or supermarkets in the UK, usually sourced from Turkey, and I generally find that they taste rather bland, while dried figs generally have more flavour although they don’t look as nice. Is that your experience too, or do you like the bland taste?
September 2, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Baraka
Walaykum asalaam & Ramadan kareem!
The Black Mission Figs I ate were incredibly sweet, like Nature’s candy, so they probably don’t travel well. My experience has been that the closer to your city that in-season fruits & vegetables are plucked, the more incredible their flavor.
Much of the produce we get here in the US at least is plucked unripe & then shipped refrigerated over thousands of miles. No wonder kids (& adults) don’t like the taste – it all tastes bland!
Warmly,
Baraka