But in the holy fasting month of Ramadan, they are major ingredients of iftar (breaking of the fast) meals. For most residents of Makkah, there is no iftar meal without their favorite traditional dishes of ful and tamiz.
You can see groups of Makkawis gathering in front of tiny shops that only make and sell ful and tamiz. As iftar time approaches, long queues of bustling customers, who are often too impatient, start forming.
This results in exchanges of words and scuffles involving some customers. The local police have had to frequently handle such incidents during the holy month.
A number of local citizens told Arab News about their love affair with ful and tamiz during the holy month. Bandar Jameel said he is keen to buy the dishes immediately after Asr prayers to avoid the heavy rush just before iftar.
He is of the view that those who fast do not have much patience when waiting for their turn.
Jameel witnessed a situation the other day when he arrived late to buy ful and tamiz from the local shop. “There was only half an hour left for iftar. And I had to join a long queue of customers,” he said.
“One of the customers who was at the end of the queue rushed forward and asked the salesman to give him three pieces of tamiz. When the salesman refused, there was an exchange of words followed by a scuffle. The salesman fell down after being punched by the man,” Jameel said, adding that he left the place at once without buying anything.
Rashid Hussein, a citizen, spoke about a similar experience at his local ful and tamiz shop.
“When I went to the shop, I saw a long queue of customers. As I was waiting for my turn, one of the customers suddenly rushed forward and asked the salesman to give him ful for three riyals,” he said. “Other customers shouted at him, asking him to wait his turn. But he refused and instead threatened the salesman that he would hit him with the jar that he was carrying unless he was served. Another customer pushed him out of the way and this resulted in a scuffle. When other customers failed to pacify them, policemen were called in,” he said, adding that the two were taken to the local police station.
Qasim, a salesman at a ful and tamiz shop, shared a similar experience. “One day I was serving customers who had formed a long queue in front of the shop. It was nearly three hours before iftar time. One of the customers left the queue and came forward. He asked me to give him three plastic bags of ful,” he said.
“I refused to serve him and instead asked him to go to his earlier position in the queue. He became furious and threatened to attack me if I did not serve him first. He then took the big metal spoon by the furnace and tried to beat me. I narrowly escaped being hit on my head.”
The man was overpowered by other customers and was taken to the local police station where he was forced to apologize to Qasim.
Major. Abdul Mohsen Al-Mayman, spokesman for Makkah police, said such incidents have been reported to various police stations in the city during the holy month in the past.
“In almost all cases, people involved in the fight reconciled and embraced each other before returning home, thanks to the efforts of the policemen, in addition to realizing that this is a holy month,” he said.
