MAKKAH: The last 15 minutes before iftar are the most difficult for fasting people who become nervous and tense, and ready to fight over the most trivial of things. Many car accidents and traffic violations take place at this time when people hasten to reach home for iftar.
Tariq Al-Thakafi saw someone on the second day of Ramadan dying in front of him. “A man was driving fast to reach home for iftar when he hit a pedestrian killing him on the spot. The driver was devastated,” he said. “All that he was able to say was that he had not meant to kill the man but was driving fast to get home for iftar. He had his iftar at the police station instead and will spend the rest of Ramadan in prison,” he added.
Adil Ibrahim said he was sleeping a few days ago when one of his friends called him and invited him to iftar. His friend asked him to bring some ful and tameez with him.
“I quickly got dressed and drove to a place where ful was being sold. There was a long queue and so I thought that if I waited I would miss iftar,” he said, adding that he then jumped the queue and asked the seller for some ful.
The seller noticed that Ibrahim had jumped the queue and so he refused to sell him ful and asked him to, instead, go at the end of the line. “An argument ensued and we then began fighting. We both had iftar at the police station,” he added.
Saeed Sami remembers an incident that happened a few years ago in Ramadan. He was on his way home 10 minutes before iftar when he saw two men — one old and one young — involved in a heated argument. “The young man took his igal (head rope) and hit the old man. It was not a hard hit but the old man fell down. When people tried to make him stand they realized that he had died,” he said, adding that instead of having his iftar at home, the young man had it at the police station. Sami also recalls an incident that happened in Makkah this Ramadan. He went to a restaurant to buy ful and stood in the queue. However, when there were just two people in front of him, the ful seller asked him to go to the end of the queue. “Someone in the middle did not like the seller’s behavior and decided to teach him a lesson. He came to the front and punched the man on the nose,” said Sami. They were both taken to the police station where they were asked to apologize to each other. “However, they both missed their iftars. The ful seller also apologized to me and the man who punched him said he lost his temper at this critical time before iftar,” said Sami.
Maj. Abdul Muhsin Al-Mayman, spokesman for the Makkah police department, said most traffic violations take place during the 15 minutes before iftar when people are rushing to get home. “These people are usually taken to the police station where they are released once they have reconciled. In all cases they miss iftar at home,” he said.
