23. The craft of agriculture.106 The fruit of this craft is the
obtainment of foodstuffs and grains. People must undertake to
stir the earth, sow, cultivate the plants, see to it that they
are watered and that they grow until they reach their full
growth, then, harvest the ears, and get the grain out of the
husks. They also must understand all the related activities, and
procure all the things required in this connection. Agriculture
is the oldest of all crafts, in as much as it provides the food
that is the main factor in perfecting human life, since man can
exist without anything else but not without food. Therefore,
this craft has existed especially in the desert, since, as we
have stated before, it is prior to and older than sedentary
life.107 Thus, it became a Bedouin craft which is not practiced
or known by sedentary people, because all their conditions are
secondary to those of desert life and their crafts, thus,
secondary and subsequent to (Bedouin) crafts. God is "the
Creator, the Knowing One." 108