How this Kansas City restaurant owner serves food and faith as he fasts for Ramadan
Lutfi Khalifah pulls a fresh batch of chicken wings from the smoker as the scent of fried catfish and the sounds of blues music waft through the building.
He is tasting none of it.
Khalifah, who owns nine Lutfi’s Fried Fish locations in the Kansas City area, including this Lee’s Summit spot, makes his living around feeding his masses of fans.
But Khalifah is also a nearly lifelong follower of the Islamic faith and is partaking in the sacred fasting of Ramadan. For this one month, his mind goes off food and is all about faith.
“It’s me saying, I am going to give this time to my lord because he gave me so much over these 11 other months of the year,” says Khalifah, who has been a prominent name in the Kansas City restaurant scene since 1994.
He correlates his success in business with his focus toward his faith and knowing his true purpose. Khalifah believes there is no greater way to serve than by feeding people. Even during a period when he denies himself the luxury of a daytime meal.
“It isn’t a struggle at all anymore. It becomes a way of life. There are so many benefits mentally as well as spiritually,” Khalifah says as he prepares the food. He became a Muslim at the age of 5, when his parents converted to the faith. Fasting, he says, reminds people what is important.
This year, Ramadan runs from April 1 to May 1. Each year, it falls on different days on the Western calendar because it is tied to the ninth month of Islam’s lunar calendar.
During Ramadan, practicing Muslims do not eat, drink (not even water), smoke, or have sexual relations with a spouse from sunup to sundown.
The observance is “faith in terms of believing something so much that you feel compelled to do something about what you say you believe,” says Sulaiman Salaam, the imam of the Al Haqq Islamic Center in Kansas City.
Ramadan, he says, is not a burden or punishment, but an opportunity to take a break from physical wants and focus on spiritual needs.
“It’s all about taking the time to look at yourself and see who you are. Faith means you believe you have a purpose and trying to find what fulfills that purpose,” says Salaam.
But getting to the point where you look forward to the month of Ramadan takes years of practice and dedication. Muslim children typically aren’t required to fast until they’re at least 10 years old. Salaam remembers his feelings of dread.
“As a kid I thought it was kind of cruel. There are mixed emotions among most children. Some absolutely want to fast and have a desire and look forward to it. There are others like me who didn’t want to do it and it was pretty rough,” Salaam recalls with a smile. “As a child I think it was difficult and people may think it is extreme. That is partially because we just didn’t understand the goal isn’t just to not eat or drink. We spend the month feeding ourselves spiritually.”
He recalled his first attempt at fasting, when he was 10.
“When I was a kid, me and my older brother worked a food stand when I first started fasting,” says Khalifah. “My brother left, and I found myself down at the gas station getting an orange soda. When my older brother came back, he saw my orange tongue and I was busted. He calls me every Ramadan to remind me of that.”
It took him years to make it to the point where he could truly appreciate the experience. “Once you try, you just go as far as you can go, and next time you just go a little farther,” he says.
Khalifah and Salaam, both Black men, have always felt the need to enlighten friends and outsiders and help shed light on the religious practice.
“When the sun goes down, everything goes back to normal,” says Khalifah. “When I tell people I am fasting for 30 days, people think we go 24 hours without eating or drinking for a month, like we are crazy.”
Salaam recalls the years of working long hours in the heat when he was younger during the fasting period.
“There have been times where I found it extremely difficult. I used to work concrete construction in the dead of summer. The fast was incredibly difficult not being able to drink water,” he says. “At other jobs it felt like that was the time the office started having all the food parties. It is all about training yourself.”
The practice is prescribed by the Quran to every able-bodied member of the faith. However, not everyone is able in certain circumstances, such as medical reasons, pregnancy or old age. Those unable to fast are urged to feed those in need instead.
Salaam also has worked in the food service industry, owning both The Salaam Café and his own Lutfi’s Fried Fish franchise location in the food court of Independence Center before it closed during the pandemic. Though he no longer is in the field, he remembers the importance of having members in the community available to help those fasting.
“Many businesses stay open later for those who are fasting. Though business in the daytime hours may not be as busy due to Ramadan, people are placing big orders for their Iftar (breaking of the fast) meals,” he says. Salaam’s Islamic center holds community Iftars Friday and Saturday evenings during the month of Ramadan.
Khalifah highly recommends the practice to those outside of the Islamic faith as an exercise in self-examination, to concentrate on the things that truly matter.
“We become closer to the lord through our sacrifice and giving thanks for just being able to be here, work, and have a family to go through the struggle with,” he says. “It brings all that into true focus.”
This story was originally published April 26, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
