What do 13 generations of ulema, scholars, imams and huffaz and a restaurant owner who feeds homeless men and women for free at his uptown DC restaurant have in common? The love of God and the same family. Kazi Abdul Mannan is a scion of the Jhelum based family of scholars. His grandfather was a Punjabi poet famous for his poetry on the Prophet. He grew up on a farm - one of ten children.
Abdul Mannan believes he is a conduit to help the homeless in the area and they are guests of God. ”My faith is behind my generosity,” he says. “Serving the needy and feeding the poor is the best of worship,” he says, slipping into Urdu. They come in and waiters take their orders. Abdul Mannan has trained his staff to treat them with the utmost respect and love.
“Sit here for a few days and you will find hundreds of stories,” he says as he offers me a cup of hot tea. “One woman came in who worked for the State department but had fallen on hard times. She needed money for a hostel room and a hot meal. She came for several days and then one day she came in with enough money to pay me back for the times I helped her out. I told her I couldn’t take the money but she insisted on paying it forward.
Abdul Mannan says, "Sometimes 15-20 come at one time and other days we have none. I ask Allah, please send somebody." On Sundays he cooks a special meals and feeds those in need at the Georgetown Ministry with the help of some dedicated volunteers, whom he met online.
He knows poverty well —grewing up in a small village without running water or electricity. The six feet tall Pakistani came to the country in 1995 with three dollars in his pocket. He worked as a cashier, lived on Benning Road in the toughest part of D.C., and ‘learnt English in the hood’. To earn extra income he drove a shuttle van and worked part time at a medical clinic. “I worked really hard.” he says. He bought his first limousine and worked nights chauffeuring the District’s rich and famous. One limo turned to two and two turned to a fleet which he still runs under the Kazi transport name.
He rides a bike, as does his brother from home to the restaurant.
After saving enough money, Abdul-Mannan bought out an existing Indian restaurant three years and his very first guests were the unhoused men and women he invited to eat after pursuing them in streets and alleys and parks around Mayur Kabab House— 3 blocks from the White House. Mayur means peacocks in Hindi — an emblem of love, compassion, good-will, and kind-heartedness.
He says that he tore up the alcohol license that accompanied the restaurant — it can cost anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 dollars to get a liquor license in that area. “It had no meaning to me,” says Abdul Mannan.
He shares photos of his less fortunate guests on his Facebook page. “This gentleman is my friend and he had been homeless for long time. [H]e loves to talk to me every day but almost 80% of conversations I don't understand but I love to listen him anyway because it's make him feel good. Please open your heart for homeless. [T]ry to listen them you will be very bless[ed].”
The recent media attention worries him. “Your niyyah is like carrying a pot made of clay. One misstep and you could drop it and break it.”
After testing a few cooks, now his brother, Fazlur Rahman, is the chef and his 17-year-old son mans the register. Abdul Mannan’s wife and the rest of his children still live in Pakistan.
The spices and even the tea is imported from Pakistan for an authentic flavor. “Its good food and you are nice,” says a customer who came to pick up a catering order for her staff meeting. She met Abdul Mannan at a special State Department delegation for small business owners from India and Pakistan.
As long as the restaurant is open, anyone who can not afford a meal is welcome to eat for free. Abdul-Mannan called them blessings. He is opening another branch in the heart of Chinatown. He believes this is the way to carry the work of the Prophet Sallallahu ‘alyhi wa sallam forward.
In 2012, he helped arrange a peaceful protest in front of the White House protesting the Youtube video that denigrated the Prophet Sallallahu ‘alyhi wa sallam. He calls himself a lover of the Prophet Sallallahu ‘alyhi wa sallam and wants to spread the message of love in Islam to everyone.
Mayur House of Kabab 1108 K Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20005-4066 Tel: (202) 637-9770 email: info@mayurkababhousedc.com
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