It is an important national symbol here in the USA. Many pine trees where I live in the rural Southeast. I am also a trained woodworker, we used poplar, hardwood, for cabinetry and softwood for framing, not what you would expect.

Here is my Misbaha, prayer beads that I use for Dhikr, meditative Islamic prayer. It is made from Indonesian palm wood. It always reminds me that Islam can be propagated peacefully in a big way.

Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world and received Islam by peaceful missionaries and trade. Woodworking itself is very important in Islam, wood is more valuable than silver and gold for decoration.

That is because early Muslims lived in a desert and had to buy and import wood from far off lands like Lebanon with silver and gold. It was a rare material used for jewelry and architectural decoration.