madina
city
of
date palms...
Modern Madinah is eminently accessible, as it is excellently served by
wide, well-surfaced highways. It is situated
308 miles/49km from
Makkah, 264 miles/425km from Jeddah, 170 miles/275km from Yanbu, and 590
miles/950km from Riyadh,
the Kingdom's capital.
Saudia, the Kingdom's
national airline, operates non-stop flights between Madinah and many other
Saudi cities.
There are also international
non-stop flights between Madinah and Cairo, Damascus, and Istanbul. During
the
season of hajj and the
vacation periods of the academic year, many additional flights are provided.
Madinah's altitude of
1,958 feet/597m above sea level gives it a somewhat extreme climate --
very hot in summer,
moderate in autumn and
cold in winter. Its generally fertile soil is given a boost in more rocky
and arid areas, by
the addition of clay-bearing
soil, which is brought in from nearby to assist in landscaping. This is
later mixed with
crushed sand, peat moss,
dried manure, and compost to balance the mineral content of the soil, thus
increasing its
fertile qualities. This
prepared soil mixture is used particularly in the planting of the date
palm.
Date palms line Madinah's
streets and highways in profusion, and the city authorities are constantly
planting even
more, together with
many multi-coloured shrubs. It is almost impossible to find a park or garden
in the city without
at least one palm tree.
The date palm (botanical name phoenix dactylifera) belongs to the class
Monocotyledons and the
family Palmae. It has provided mankind with food (pictured) and building
materials since the dawn of
time and can be found from the Canary Islands across northern Africa to
the Middle East; from India
and Pakistan to south-west
Asia.
Horticultural experts
believe that the date palm has been cultivated since about 6000BC, and
every part of the
tree has its uses. The
wood and leaves provide timber and fabric for houses and fences. The leaves
are used for
making ropes, cord,
baskets, crates and furniture. Bases of the leaves and the fruit stalks
are used as fuel, and the
fruit yields food products
such as date vinegar, date chutney or sweet pickle, date paste for bakery
products and
additional flavouring
for oranges, bananas and almonds. The Arabian-flavoured Bedouin dish known
as Canua
and roasted whole date
seeds are popular as far away as Libya. Even the tree's terminal buds make
tasty
additions to vegetable
salads.
The date palm's single,
unbranched trunk grows to a height of 100 feet/30m. The trunk is covered
in a spiral
pattern with leaf base
remnants, known as leaf scars. The feather-shaped leaves are about 13-16
feet/4-5m long,
and are crowned with
male and female flowers, growing on separate trees. Each flower cluster
contains about
1,000 blooms. Only young
trees, of between three and seven years old, bear flowers; it is the lateral
buds of older
trees which bear the
fruit.
Cultivated date palms
undergo a process of artificial fertilisation. The male flowers are cut
off and tied to the trees
above the female flowers.
Seeds or offshoots sprouting from the base of the trunk are used in tree
propagation.
These reproduce the
sex and nature of the parent tree and can therefore be used for commercial
planting.
According to Professor
El-Said of King Saud University, Riyadh, the sex of a date palm is often
difficult to
determine and the tree
can even change its sex before reaching maturity. An examination of the
flowers of a young
tree may not necessarily
be very helpful in revealing its true sex.
The fruit of the date
has one seed and can vary in size, shape, colour and quality of flesh.
Unripe dates are green
in colour, maturing
to yellow, then reddish-brown when fully ripe. A single large bunch may
contain more than a
thousand dates, and
can weigh between 13 and 17 lbs (6 to 8 kg). Each tree produces between
five and ten
bunches. Date palms
begin to bear fruit at 3 to 5 years, and are fully mature at 12 years.
The sugar content of
ripe dates is about 80%, and the remainder is a rich blend of protein,
fat and mineral
products including copper,
sulphur, iron, magnesium and fluoric acid. Dates are therefore highly nutritious.
Bedouin Arabs, who eat
them on a regular basis, show an extremely low incidence rate of cancer
and heart
disease.
As the Holy Qur'an tells
us, dates have always been considered beneficial to mothers. When Mary
gave birth to
the Prophet Jesus (may
peace be upon Him) under a palm tree, she heard a voice telling her:
"Shake the trunk of the palm tree towards thee: it will drop fresh, ripe
dates upon thee. Eat, then,
and drink, and let thine eye be gladdened!" (Qur'an 19:25-26)
The date palm is often
the only available staple food for the inhabitants of desert and arid lands,
and as such it is
vital to millions throughout
North Africa and the Middle East. According to the World Food and Agricultural
Organisation, there
are 90 million date palms in the world and each tree can grow for more
than 100 years. 64
million of these trees
are grown in Arab countries, which produce 2 million tons of dates between
them each year.
Date-producing Arab countries
are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia,
Sudan,
Syria, Tunisia, the
UAE, and Yemen. Between them Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Saudi
Arabia produce
600 different kinds
of dates, which accounts for 60% of the world's production.
The date palm is also
highly prized as an ornamental tree throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
as it is ideally
situated in streets,
avenues and driveways. Optimum planting conditions dictate that trees should
be set 20-26
feet/6-8m apart and
then well soaked with water. The date palm can tolerate a high salinity
level of up to 22,000
parts per million.
Iraq is the top commercial
producer and exporter of dates, closely followed by Saudi Arabia, Egypt
and Algeria.
Saudi Arabia contains
more than a million date palms, and scored a commendable achievement by
doubling its
production of dates
in 1986. The Kingdom donates 16,000 tons of its annual production of 500,000
tons of dates
to the world food programme.
Madinah's date market (Souq Al Tumoor) contains about 150 varieties, the
most
popular of which is
Anbara, the most expensive. Other delicious varieties include Ajwa, Halwa,
Shalabi, Barnie
and Mabroum