These eateries are especially busy just before iftar.

However, because tolerance wears thin as iftar nears, it is not uncommon to see many arguments breaking out between the sellers and buyers, which often end in fisticuffs and police arrests.

This, however, do not deter local residents from obtaining ful, which they consider the most important food on their tables after long hours of fasting.

Hameed Al-Fahd, a young Saudi, said despite the fact that you can get all the ful you need for few riyals, waiting in line can be a very costly experience.

He said during Ramadan last year he witnessed a bad fight that almost deterred him from ever buying food just before iftar.

He recalled that a lot of people were queuing to buy ful, when suddenly a man jumped out of the line.

The other people in the long queue did not like this and started complaining. They asked him to go back to his place in the line, but when he refused one of them slapped him in the face and the two started brawling.

He said the two were taken to the nearby police station, where they broke their fast with other criminals.

“Since this day, I have second thoughts of going to ful and tamiz places, especially before iftar,” Al-Fahd said.

Uncle Ali, an old man who sells ful, remembers that just before iftar one day last Ramadan a customer jumped the queue and asked him for three plastic containers of ful, threatening to hit him if he refused.

“I refused to take his order so he took a large spoon and aimed it at my head. He would have killed me had I not quickly moved away,” he said.

Uncle Ali said the police took them both into custody, but they were released after they reconciled.

“However, our release was approved after iftar. I missed the chance to sell my ful and tamiz and the other man could not have his iftar at home with his family,” he said.

To avoid any friction with other customers, Bandar Jameel used to buy his ful immediately after Asr prayer.

“Near iftar time people usually lose patience and become intolerable. I usually avoid going to buy ful at this time to avoid fights with others,” he said.

Jameel said he once witnessed a bad fight between a customer and seller.

“I saw the customer hitting the seller several times on the head until he fell down unconscious. Since then, I stopped going to ful and tamiz places just before iftar,” he said.