Dates Falling on My Roof

July 26, 2008

date-palm
It’s that time of the year again….dazzling sunshine, scorching heat & ripening dates. In every yard, on every street, in parks, around masjids, on tall & dwarf trees, clusters of the delicious dark delights greet us this month onwards.
 Alhumdullilah, the country is blessed with more than 40 million palm trees that yield 110 varieties of dates. It’s a wonderful fruit that people enjoy & its demand reaches climax during the month of Ramadan as the food of choice for people to break their fast the Sunnah way.
 Prophet (SalullahualaihiWassallum) “used to break the fast before he prayed with fresh dates, if there were no fresh dates then with dry dates, and if there were no dry dates, then he sipped from water.” (At-Tirmidhi & Al Albanni declared it hasan in Sahih Al Jama #4995)
 But, as is human nature, when something is near or in abundance, it loses its value. Large number of dates lies scattered around the palm trees, smudging the ground, unwanted, and unvalued. It is a common sight to see the smudged pavements – residue of the flattened dates.
 So near & so much that no one (seems to) cares.

 This sad reality of human nature plays out in my own front yard. Both the neighboring houses are home to date palms (that too, right next to our side of the wall). Tuk, Duk, Put, with the rustling of those large leaves, dates, at various stages of its life, drop on my roof & patio. Every morning during the fruiting season, there is the extra chore of sweeping the ground of previous night’s fallen bounties. Sadly, most of the ones that land on our territory are either too young to be edible, over-ripe or old & shriveled. (This a possibly a result of no/weak cross pollination – owing to a shortage of male trees in the neighborhood) So there’s not much to entice the pellet there. There are some sweet perfect ones also, but the diligent army of night ants overtakes us at relishing them.

 We will be buying our dates’ supply for Ramadan this year.

 In the meantime, I’ll try to see the bright side of the picture & enjoy & appreciate the next couple of months. After all, it doesn’t rain dates everywhere!        

 “Amongst the trees, there is a tree which resembles a Muslim. Its leaves do not fall and it gives its fruit every season. It is a date-palm tree.”  [Sahih Bukhari- 4368]

 

 

 

 

 

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2 Responses to “Dates Falling on My Roof”

  1. Umm Ridhwaan Says:

    August 6, 2008 at 6:57 am

    As Salaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah,
    One of the ways to connect the dates is by using nets wrapped around the hanging fronds, loaded with golden, ripe Ruttab( fresh dates). In the Emirates you will see the green colored netting that they wrap them with. When the nakhlah(date palm) has reached it’s production peak, it’s time to cut them down. You might want to try that method using a qualified specialist to come to care for the trees in your yard.
    I love date season in the Emirates! It was one of my special times outside of Ramadhaan. Now this year it’s end will just about coincide with the Holy Month, when Khallas are coming out………ummmmmm yummy! Save me some in the freezer, I plan to come there perhaps for Eid Al Adhaa. Enjoy! Umm Ridhwaan waiting for dates to ripen in Egypt

  2. serendipitouslife Says:

    August 6, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    Walaikumasalaam Umm Ridhwaan,
    JazakAllahkhair for the suggestions. The problem is that the date palms are actually in my neighbor’s yard, but right at the edge so its almost halfway over ours. My neighbours aren’t bothered to do anything about it.
    Yes, the green net-covers are used by municipality to cover & protect the date clusters that come under their jurisdiction. But very few privately owned trees are cared for in that way.

    Don’t worry, inshaAllah, there will still be plenty of fresh dates by Eid Al Adha!
    Enjoy your ‘date-rain’ in Egypt!


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