In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Nabi Rubin, tribal area  had a population of 120, all  Muslims.

In 1933, during the Nabi Rubin celebrations, Arabs went on strike and rioted against British Mandatory rule.
The first Palestinian film, a 1935 documentary, was also presented at the Nabi Rubin festivals.
Up to 30,000 people made the pilgrimage annually throughout the month of August.
 
Temporary coffeehouses, restaurants, and stalls selling food and other merchandise were set up, and people sang popular songs, — both religious and nationalist — and danced the traditional dabka.
Sufi dervishes held dhikr sessions, and pilgrims also watched horse races, magic shows and listened to sermons from imams and poets.
City wives, who virtually never socialized outside households, in particular "craved participation in the festival," and Tawfiq Canaan writes that they would announce to their husbands "Either you take me to Nabi Rubin, or you divorce me."


The writer S. Yizhar, who as a child sneaked over the sands from his home in Rehovot, later described: 
"One finally arrives at Nabi Rubin and its mosque in the center, to watch by the light of bonfires...or even electricity from portable generators, the performance of the dances, the whirling of the dervishes, the colorful candy wrappers,...the pot-bellied swaying Gypsy woman  ....while on the side, the singing keeps sawing away all time, not ceasing until the depths of night..."
The village's land area, most of which was covered by sand dunes, was the second largest in the district after that of Yibna, and was designated as an Islamic waqf ("pious endowment").
Some of the houses, which were scattered across the site without any discernible nucleus, were also built inside the fruit orchards.
Shops, as well as a movie theater, were built in the neighborhood of the shrine.
The villagers worked in agriculture and animal husbandry; they also catered to the visitors during the mawsim.
They cultivated mainly grain, followed by citrus and other fruits, such as figs and grapes.

In the 1945 statistics  the population was 1,420, all Muslims,  while the total land area was 31,002  dunams, according to an official land and population survey.
Of this, a total of 683 dunums was devoted to citrus and banana cultivation,  4357 dunums were allocated to cereals, 184 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, while 25,770 dunams were classified as non-cultivable land.

In 1946, a boys' school was started, with an enrollment of 56 pupils.
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Nabi Rubin, tribal area  had a population of 120, all  Muslims.
In 1933, during the Nabi Rubin celebrations, Arabs went on strike and rioted against British Mandatory rule. The first Palestinian film, a 1935 documentary, was also presented at the Nabi Rubin festivals. Up to 30,000 people made the pilgrimage annually throughout the month of August.  
Temporary coffeehouses, restaurants, and stalls selling food and other merchandise were set up, and people sang popular songs, — both religious and nationalist — and danced the traditional dabka. Sufi dervishes held dhikr sessions, and pilgrims also watched horse races, magic shows and listened to sermons from imams and poets. City wives, who virtually never socialized outside households, in particular "craved participation in the festival," and Tawfiq Canaan writes that they would announce to their husbands "Either you take me to Nabi Rubin, or you divorce me."

The writer S. Yizhar, who as a child sneaked over the sands from his home in Rehovot, later described: 
"One finally arrives at Nabi Rubin and its mosque in the center, to watch by the light of bonfires...or even electricity from portable generators, the performance of the dances, the whirling of the dervishes, the colorful candy wrappers,...the pot-bellied swaying Gypsy woman  ....while on the side, the singing keeps sawing away all time, not ceasing until the depths of night..."
The village's land area, most of which was covered by sand dunes, was the second largest in the district after that of Yibna, and was designated as an Islamic waqf ("pious endowment"). Some of the houses, which were scattered across the site without any discernible nucleus, were also built inside the fruit orchards. Shops, as well as a movie theater, were built in the neighborhood of the shrine. The villagers worked in agriculture and animal husbandry; they also catered to the visitors during the mawsim. They cultivated mainly grain, followed by citrus and other fruits, such as figs and grapes.
In the 1945 statistics  the population was 1,420, all Muslims,  while the total land area was 31,002  dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, a total of 683 dunums was devoted to citrus and banana cultivation,  4357 dunums were allocated to cereals, 184 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, while 25,770 dunams were classified as non-cultivable land.
In 1946, a boys' school was started, with an enrollment of 56 pupils.
Nabi Rubin