Balad, or downtown Jeddah, is one big marketplace which has a number of specialized markets including the Bedouin Market, named after the Bedouin tribes who sell textiles, spices and grains there. Mubark Waslallah Al-Jahdali, a 68-year-old lifetime resident of the area, said the market was named after the Bedouins because it was the place where Bedouins from rural areas went to buy textiles, tents, ropes, foodstuff, tea, sugar and rice. The Bedouin tribes also came to the market to sell their own products like ghee and honey as well as a number of animal and agricultural products. Al-Jahdali said that once he had a small shop in the market where he used to sell dried fish known as “Hareed” which is one of the components of a traditional dish cooked with rice and lentils. He said that most of his Bedouin customers used to come from Assfan and outlying areas including Khalis, Um, Al-Jarm, and Wadi Fatima. He said he used to bring the fish from Thwal, Rabegh and Yanbu adding that when “I had enough money, I used to buy the fish from the camel men who came from Amluj. In fact, those Bedouins did not often come to the market which is why I sometimes ran short of fish.” Al-Jahdali said that among the camel men who used to supply him with “Hareed” were Massoud Abu Haddeda (known as the Iron Man) and Muhammed Attaiah Al-Jahdali. He said Massoud was called the “Iron Man” because once a camel attacked its owner and dug its teeth into the man's hand and refused to let go. Massoud rushed to help the man and thrust a piece of iron into the camel's mouth which forced the animal to release the man's hand. The enraged camel, he added, started attacking Massoud who picked up the iron rod and hit the camel on the head so hard that it died on the spot. After that Massoud was always called the “Iron Man.” Yemeni sweets Radi Haneen Al-Sahafi, 59-years-old, said: “I was a child when my father first took me to the Bedouin Market. When we arrived there, my father tied up the camels in a fenced pen allotted for camels. We went to the market where he did his shopping. I remember that in the northern part of the market, there was a man who used to sell only ropes and empty bags made of jute. There was also another shop which sold only tea, sugar and coffee beans. The tea was packed in big wooden boxes. I liked the Yemeni sweets which my father always bought for me whenever he visited the market.” Muhammed Abu Bakr Muhammed Bagais, aged 67, said: “The Bedouin market was not the only market in Jeddah, but the Bedouins were very attached to it because they could get everything they needed and could sell products they brought with them, such as, firewood, milk, ghee and other items.” At that time, he said, Jeddah was surrounded by four gates, Bab Makkah, Bab Sahreef, Bab Al-Saba and Bab Jadeed, with the Bedouin Market located in the center of Jeddah. He said that the shops in the market were built of mud and bricks pointing out that most of the merchants were Hadrami from South Yemen. At the back of the market, Bagais said, there were coppersmiths making pots for cooking ‘foul' (fava beans). He said some of the shops in the market were run by the Endowment Administration.
