Zaqqoum

Here's my take on the Zaqqoum (or Zaqqum, or Zaccoum), an infernal tree which is told to grow in the eternal flames of Jahannam, the Islamic Hell. Its fruits, shaped like the heads of demons according to the Qu'ran (37:65), are one of the very few things that sinners are allowed - not to say forced - to eat. But these sentient fruits tend to bite at them when they get close, are extremely bitter, and burn the unbelievers' stomach for a long time after being eaten. According to Muhammad Baqer al-Majlisi in his "Bihar al-Anwar", the Zaqqoum's fruits stink worse than cadavers, and one drop of their juice could melt the Earth's mountains. Plus, several sources claim that the Zaqqoum is a thorny plant, making the unfaithful ones' access to the fruits even more tricky. Still following al-Majlisi's depiction of the tree, it has 70 000 branches, which spread through the seven levels of Jahannam. Other scholars say that a new fruit grows when a human commits an evil action...