I've recently wondered what the leisure life of people in Islamic countries(e.g. Syria) would have been like around 1000 A.D. I suspect that consuming alcohol publically would not have been legal and tobacco was not known outside of america at that time. At the same time its unlikely that the only available leisure activities were drinking coffee and reading so im left wondering: "What did people actually do in their free time?"
The posts I'm about to link don't quite cover the full range of recreational activities available to Muslims of that period, but I will note that the Islamic forbiddance on alcohol is...not quite as monolithic as you'd imagine, and in any case some of the posts do touch on potential avenues of recreation.
As always, more posts are always welcome regarding other, non-drinking recreational activities available to Muslims of the period!