According to Dr. Abdul Hameed Al Hashash the palm has been the symbol of the tree of life in Arabia since ancient times. In the Qur'an it is written "And tall (and stately) palm-trees, with shoots of fruit-stalks, piled one over another as sustenance for God's servants; We give (new) life therewith to land that is dead: Thus will be the resurrection." (Qur'an 50:10) In the Middle East the idea that the palm was symbolic of life is illustrated by the fact that the disciples chose palm leaves to spread before the Savior on his triumphal entry into Jerusalem as he was about to conclude his mission to conquer death.
It is easy to see why the date palm should be a symbol the Lord would use to represent to Lehi both the Savior and the Tree of Life. The fruit of the palm can be sweet and light, the date--the "true see"--becomes a "tree of life) springing up into everlasting life" (Alma 32:41). "The longevity of the Bedouins is often attributed to the nutritional benefits of dates." Palm leaves are also a symbol of victory.
The everlasting nature of the palm tree is signified by the fact that it never looses its leaves, its roots placed deep in the aquifer draw from the waters of "everlasting life." Arab lore says that the ideal environment for date palms is "with their feet in the water and their heads in the fires of the heavens."
[George Potter with Richard Wellington, Following the Words of Nephi: Part One: Discovering the Valley of Lemuel, Unpublished Manuscript, 1999, p. 91 ] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 11:7]
“I Beheld a Tree Whose Fruit Was Desirable to Make One Happy”
According to the analysis of Stela 5 by Wells Jakeman (Stela 5, Izapa), references to a "Tree of Life" symbol in the religion of the ancient civilized peoples of Mesoamerica have been known not only in the early Indian and Spanish writings of that area, but also in the religious arts of those peoples. The art representations show a fruit-bearing tree (fig. #15) . . . in the center, conventionalized into the form of a cross. Unlike the later versions from Mesoamerica, the Tree of Life is shown naturalistically, as a fruit-bearing tree, more like the Near Eastern representations than the cruciform. (pp. 5-6)
There is a bird perched on top (depicted, in some Maya examples, as a quetzal-bird with a serpent's head, therefore undoubtedly a symbol of Quetzalcoatl, the famed Life God of ancient Mesoamerica (p. 1). . . This bird seen perched atop the tree in the Mesoamerican portrayals also presents a rather close correspondence to the winged sun-disk above the Assyrian tree, since not only is it winged and placed above the tree, but in the Maya examples of Mesoamerica there can be seen a sun-symbol hanging from the quetzal bird's tail feathers (p. 3).
According to Jakeman, the representation of . . . cherubim was a practice of the ancestors of the Lehite people in Palestine, and was doubtless carried on by them, at least to some extent, in the New World. For example, sphinxes among the ivory plaques found in the ruins of Ahab's palace at Samaria were a prototype of the cherubim depicted in later Assyrian portrayals of the Tree of Life, and were frequently also represented in the Temple at Jerusalem (p. 12).
The two guardian personages (figs. #17 and #18, identified as the two largest figures seen standing facing the tree) are depicted on [Stela 5] much more like the two guardian personages seen in the Near Eastern portrayals than those seen in the other American representations: They are not only standing facing the tree on either side in an attitude of worship, like the Near Eastern--particularly the Assyrian--personages or cherubim, but they each seem to be bird-headed, as often likewise the Assyrian cherubim! . . . Observe that these Izapa figures have the same stance as the Assyrian cherubim: face more or less in profile, shoulders in full front or three-quarters view, but the legs and feet again in profile and in tandem, one advanced before the other. But the specific similarities do not end here. It will be noted that the personage on the right of the tree also appears to hold a tasseled baglike object with each hand, while the one on the left holds a pointed object raised towards the tree. In the Assyrian representations of the Tree of Life the guardian personages are usually also shown as holding a baglike object and a pointed object raised towards the tree. These bags might be bags for the fruit of the Tree of Life (pp. 6, 12). [Wells Jakeman, Stela 5, Izapa, pp. 1-12]
1 Nephi 8:10 Tree of Life ([Illustration]): Ancient Representations of the Tree of Life. From a Maya monument (the so-called Tablet of the Cross, Palenque) in the National Museum of Archaeology, Mexico; [Wells Jakeman, Stela 5, Izapa, pp. 3, 7]
1 Nephi 8:10 Tree of Life ([Illustration]): Ancient Representations of the Tree of Life. From an Assyrian monument in the British Museum. [Wells Jakeman, Stela 5, Izapa, pp. 3, 7]