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I liked the old man already. Who said that it took many years
to love someone? It surely took me a few seconds. He looked like
one of these scholars who are in charge of the Qur’anic schools
dispatched over the land. People confided in them, and they taught
patience and compassion to others in return for fine respect.
"See," he continued, "the old trunks are the foundation. In a dam,
old wood is always reliable. When the young branches flow away,
the ancient ones are swollen with water and stacks heavily against
each other."
I looked and I thought that three or four cloud bursts might constitute
the only rains for the year. He continued:
"The oldest dams survive the centuries. There is a rough rocky
dam about twenty miles from Taif, not very far from here. It is
called “Say-Sudd.” There is an angular kufic inscription on the cliff,
which is actually the most ancient of all Islamic inscriptions. The
dam dates from the year of the Hejira 58 (AD 680), and it was dug
by the khalifa -- the Commander of the Believers. People have
always been utterly dependent on the water supplies in the desert.”
He showed me the valley extended about three miles in width where
several villages were dispatched.
“The runoff from the mountains is brought up by the aquifers you can
see over there," and his finger identified the long tramping of the
gutters made of stone. Our Prophet (Peace be upon him) has always
pointed out the importance of irrigation."
I looked at the extensive geography formed by an ancient volcanic
activity. The mountains of Ta?f resembled a black stain that great
lava flows had spread. Fortunately, the agricultural areas were rich
because of numerous deposits of silt that made the land arable.
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"We can breathe easily here," I said, "the air is more bracing than
on the coast. I am sad when I notice evidence of ancient cultivation
and traces of former fields and gardens and nobody profits from them
anymore, as in the region of Tihama.”
"Insha Allah!" said the elder, "everything is by the grace of Allah
the Most Majestic."
Nearby, camels hoisted water in goatskins from pits under the earth.
We passed them and I took a sip of the water that was so valuable
here. The teacher invited me for a walk and we trotted along the
footpaths carefully kept.
In the fields, farmers were plowing and harvesting the same way as
in the time of Solomon. The same type of crooked wooden stick with
the point or plowshare shod was used with a beaten iron shoe and
drawn by oxen. The harrowing and smoothing in other parts was
done by standing on a plank drawn by the draft animals. The seeding
was broadcast by hand and harvested by sickle. I looked at it with
comprehension.
The men had selected places to plant more date palms and
more olive trees in the border of arid areas. They would commence
bearing fruits eight years later, “Insha Allah -- God willing,” as the
Arabs would say. Each tree would be productive for eighty years or
more, a man's lifetime. Palms were selected by offshoots for the
same type of dates or grown from seeds every year.
Among the trees, white sorghums melted with the brown or red
types. Their stalks reached a few feet in height. With them were
green succulent plants with varying widths and tender leaves.
Branches of Khat were moving in the slight breeze. Khat or Qat
was a stimulant producing a feeling of exaltation and euphoria. It
was a mild drug used mainly in Yemen.
I wondered why a religious population so much against drugs would
grow such a plant. Then I remembered that the traditions sometimes
were more strongly implanted than the religion, and men made
mistakes when they were driven by their desire of a terrestrial
Paradise. Elsewhere lay multitudes of colors and forms like a richly
tainted rug made of groves of bananas, apricots, pomegranates, figs,
peaches, citrus, melons, papayas, crab apples and grapes. Squares
vegetables were grown for the market such as potatoes, eggplant,
okra, squash, radishes, onions, tomatoes, watermelons, cantaloupes,
cucumbers, cabbages, carrots, lettuce, peppers and beans. Along the
paths, horses were raised as pets since the end of the wars; they
were not anymore considered as beasts of burden. These horses
were extremely gentle and sensitive, quick on the start and capable of
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