Title: Tree of Mankind
Artist: Participant C (Boy, Age 13)
Year: 2025
Transcribed story
Title: Tree of Mankind
It starts out with this man that goes to the park. And he sees a tree. A leaf falls down. A very green leaf. He picks it up and he thinks, “this tree is a bit like a person. Because his knowledge in Islam is like growing. That’s why the leaves are green.” But then they go brown and they fall off. He comes back in winter and says, “Winter is a bit like a turning point. There are no leaves on the tree. We don't know what to believe. But then we have to wait until spring, because that's when guidance happens and the greenery of the trees come back.”
So, you just have to be a bit patient to understand what's going on.
Curatorial Note:
This piece was created by Participant C, a 13-year-old boy based in the UK, during an individual Story Design Workshop conducted as part of the Sufi Storytelling Project at the University of Edinburgh.
The young storyteller described what he wished to narrate:
Participant C: “First of all, like you know, when you sometimes, when you like, sometimes you're a bit lost and you don't know what to believe in Islam, right? If you know what I mean. And I think it happens to a lot of people. But like, like, you know, you have to search for guidance. You know, you have to be patient and insha’Allah very soon it comes back to you and you understand a lot more about Allah and you know, just like happiness spirituality.”
Researcher: “How do you engage with the concept of imaginal?”
Participant C: “So, like you know, I just think that insha’Allah I have a good like time ahead of me, like I have things planned for my future and stuff. But like, you know, you never know when something might go wrong, and you just need to be patient and remember to pick yourself back up again, you know.”
Themes:
Environment, Islam, Sabr (Patience), Knowledge
Citation:
Participant C. (2025) Tree of Mankind. In: Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families (curated by H.E. Üzümcü). University of Edinburgh. DataShare Repository. https://doi.org/10.7488/ds/8174.
Copyright & Licence Statement:
© 2025 Participant C. This work is published in anonymised form with the consent of the participant and his caregiver as part of the Digital Museum of Sufi Stories and Art by Children and Families, University of Edinburgh. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence. You may share and adapt this work for non-commercial purposes, provided appropriate attribution is given.
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