THE EVENT OF FECUNDATION OF THE PALM-TREES
Let me now turn to the tradition which is often quoted to support this fallacious view. The details of the tradition are as follows:
The Arabs of Madinah used to fecundate their palm-trees in order to make them more fruitful. This operation was called Ta’bir which is explained by E.W. Lane as below:’
“He fecundated a palm-tree by means of the spadix of the male tree, which is bruised, or brayed, and sprinkled upon the spadix of the female; or by inserting a stalk of a raceme of the male tree into the spathe of the female, after shaking off the pollen of the former upon the spadix of the female”