The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship

Children's Stories

The Unity of the Banana Tree

My love you, my grandchildren, my sons and daughters. Come and look closely at this banana tree. It looks like a hand, doesn't it? See how the leaves are just like fingers. Do you know how a banana tree grows? When a young tree sprouts from the mother tree, first one leaf emerges, then it bends down and another appears. One after another, eight, nine, ten, or even more leaves emerge in this way. And as they continue to sprout from this one central point, they grow closer and closer, over lapping like pieces of paper all glued together. How much unity and symmetry these leaves have!

The bananas also grow clustered together, emerging from a single stem and forming into bunches. They live in such unity, sharing the same nourishment, the same taste, and the same color. But then we pick them and break them apart, one by one. That is something to think about.

My grandchildren, all of God's creation is like this banana tree. God created Adam and Eve (A.S) from just one point, and from this point emerged twenty-one sets of twins, or forty-two children. They had one mother, one father, one family, and one God. They all started from one point in such unity, but then they separated into many reli gions, races, and societies, and so many differences developed.

God and God's family, the community of mankind, all came from one point. The whole society of mankind is one family. They all emerged from one God, one truth. God has told us that we are all different parts of the same thing. No matter what our external differ ences may be, we are all one. We are all one.

When wisdom comes and we understand this, then differences, murder, and sin will not exist among us. We will live in unity. Think about this. My children, through the example of the banana tree, God has shown us what unity can be like. My love you. Anbu.

- M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
Come to the Secret Garden: Sufi Tales of Wisdom