It was tough enough living in the desert 60 years ago without modern conveniences such as air-conditioning and refrigerators, but during Ramadan it was particularly difficult. However, those who lived there were strong and creative people who used whatever local materials were on hand to live. There was no special preparation at all for Ramadan. Ahmad Mohammad, 76, said that people in the desert ate the same food in Ramadan that they had the rest of the year. “They ate wheat, corn, millet and dates. They drank water, coffee, and the milk of camels and sheep. This kind of food and drink was available for the whole year,” said Mohammad. Mohammad pointed out that wheat, dates and animals were the source of their food, drink, and equipment. They had little food. They did not need refrigerators to keep food because they barely had enough to eat. They used copper utensils and had never seen glass or plastic, he said. “In the past, women would mill wheat, corn, and millet with a device called a ‘raha', which is two cylindrical stones moved by a stick in the middle. It could either be made into a paste and then cooked with water to become a soup, or into flour for baking. They also had dates, milk, and water.” The people of the desert were passionate about drinking Arabian coffee. They always made sure that they would have coffee after Iftar (breaking fast) and Suhoor (the morning meal) because coffee was considered as important as water and food. “They would get headaches if they did not get it,” Mohammad explained. When Mohammad was seven years old he could not fast because he was too young to do so in the extreme heat. “Life was tough. I worked with my father in farming. He had wheat and date farms. I also herded camels and sheep.” In Ramadan people slept after Taraweeh prayer and woke up before Suhoor time, when the Jeddah cannon was fired, said Mohammad. The Suhoor meal was rice and milk or rice and butter. After Fajr prayer, the men, women and children went to their farms or tended their sheep and camels until noon. They would then sleep after Dhuhr (noon) prayer for two hours. Thereafter, women started preparing the Iftar meal, said Mohammad. Women worked inside and outside their houses without the help of maids. “We had no maids. Girls would herd sheep in the morning and help their mothers to cook and clean in the afternoon. Moreover, at night they would sew their Eid dresses in the moonlight,” said Ghalia Sulaiman, who is 66 years old. “Ladies and girls had to sew all the Eid dresses for their families.” Unlike villages and cities, there were no mosque buildings in the desert. They had special areas for prayer which they protected from animals and children. It was for all prayers including Taraweeh and other religious activities. “When I was young, the sheikh taught me Qur'an, prayer and other Islamic regulations. And in Ramadan he would urge people to do their best during worship, especially on the night of Laylatul Qader,” said Sulaiman. (Laylatul Qader is known as the Night of Power and occurs during the last 10 days of the month of Ramadan). Water was a precious commodity in the past because of the lack of modern kitchen equipment, so people used to store their water in a “gerbah”, which is a leather bag sewn closed on all sides, with only an opening at the top. The gerbah was made from sheep leather. First, the leather was cleaned carefully to make sure there were no holes. Then salt was applied to the leather and it was buried under sand for a period of time to remove any remaining wool. Finally, the leather was put in a solution of water with “certain kinds of wood and leaves boiled together”. Then the leather was dried out and fashioned into a bag for holding water. Mohammad said that in those days groundwater was available everywhere. “We found it wherever we dug for three meters.” Aiming to overcome the hot weather after Dhuhr prayer, people would wet their clothes – the men their “shemaags” and the women their “shailahs” and sleep for two hours. “They protected themselves from the heat and woke up very active,” Mohammad said. He said that although the desert was often extremely hot and there was no money, people lived healthy lives and worked hard. “People did not need doctors and did not have diseases such as diabetes or hypertension. Moreover people could see great distances in their old age. I remember a woman of 100 years of age who was still sewing dresses. People were also able to take up responsibilities at an early age. For example, a girl of five was often put in charge of small sheep,” Mohammad said.
