By: Elowen Gray
Food carries stories. For some, it is a memory of abundance, a grandmother’s kitchen filled with spices and laughter. For others, it is the reminder of scarcity—of longing and hunger. Shabana Ibrahim-Rehana Markar grew up listening to her father recall his childhood in Mumbai, where his mother, after being widowed, struggled to feed her ten children. These stories, told with honesty and pain, remained with Shabana. They became the foundation of her vision: to create a life where food is not only sustenance but also a bridge to compassion.
Her parents’ sacrifices as first-generation immigrants in America deepened this calling. They labored to provide her and her brother with opportunities they themselves had never known. From them, she learned that “to feed the belly and to feed the soul are two different things.” This distinction has become her philosophy, one she has carried into her businesses, nonprofit work, and creative projects.
The Mercy Brands: Nourishment with Intention
Shabana is the CEO of two restaurants: Mercy Mediterranean and Luna’s Halal Taqueria. These are not ordinary brands. They are conceived as spaces where healthy, affordable meals are offered with dignity. For her, speed does not mean compromise. Each dish is crafted with care, serving as an invitation to eat well without sacrificing quality of service.
The intention behind these restaurants is clear: they are businesses built not solely for profit but to uplift. In an industry often dominated by efficiency and margins, Shabana insists on weaving compassion into the very structure of her enterprises. Customers are not only consumers; they are participants in a larger movement captured by her motto, “spreading mercy with every bite!”
Miracles 4 Mercy: Extending Food into Action
Beyond the restaurants, Shabana founded Miracles 4 Mercy, a nonprofit dedicated to addressing global suffering. Proceeds from her food ventures are redirected into projects that target literacy support, improved water infrastructure, and programs aimed at reducing homelessness and human trafficking.
In practice, this means a potential meal purchased in Los Angeles may translate into a clean water well abroad, or into shelter for someone without a home. The circle of empathy is thus widened. A customer can see the direct impacts updated on her website. She ensures that the chain of nourishment extends beyond geographical and cultural borders. Food, in her model, is never just about the individual—it is about the collective.
A Voice Through The Mercy Queen
Shabana’s podcast, The Mercy Queen, embodies the same ethos but through words rather than food. The show is dedicated to fostering empathy and dialogue, urging listeners to embrace difference rather than fear it. “Every soul desires to be seen, heard, valued, and appreciated.”
Episodes tackle the human need for mutual respect and a deeper understanding, reminding audiences that empathy is not an abstract concept but needs to be a daily practice. Just as her restaurants offer nourishment to the body, her podcast provides nourishment to the mind. Both are different expressions of the same commitment: “spreading mercy through empathy and light.”
Redefining Wealth and Power
Shabana’s philosophy challenges conventional notions of success. To her, wealth is not measured by the size of a bank account, but by the legacy one leaves in uplifting others. Power is not about status but about its execution for the greater good. Happiness, similarly, is not bound to material possessions but to purpose.
This perspective did not come easily. She acknowledges that her path was met with—even resistance—from those closest to her. Yet she persisted, fueled by self-compassion and the willingness to pursue her dream despite setbacks. For Shabana, entrepreneurship is not a pursuit of mere greed, but an act of courage on behalf of those who cannot afford to take such risks.
Lessons in Resilience
The loss of her father in December 2024 has marked her recent journey with grief. Yet, even in mourning, Shabana has found a way to transform sorrow into service. She reminds herself daily that it is “okay not to be okay.” This acceptance is not a weakness, but a strength—a recognition that healing is a process and that compassion must begin with oneself.
Her story offers a lesson for others: do not let fear of failure or the discouragement of others silence your vision. She insists that in America, with hard work and conviction, “anyone can be or do anything if you dare to dream and execute.” For her, mistakes are not to be avoided but embraced as part of the process of growth.
Help Her Achieve: Support (Y)our Mercy Mission
Shabana’s vision is expansive. In the next five years, she hopes to grow her restaurants across Northern and Southern California, with the ambition of building a global franchise that embodies a mercy mission. She wants her brand to be recognized not just as a provider of food but as a movement—a model of how business and empathy can coexist.
Her upcoming self-help book, Love Me First, Love Me Last, reflects her personal commitment to this mission. In it, she shares her journey toward self-love after enduring severe childhood bullying. Alongside the book, she is pursuing certification as a life coach, extending her work of healing into the realm of personal transformation.
These initiatives—restaurants, nonprofit work, podcast, writing, and coaching—are not isolated projects. They are interconnected threads, each reinforcing her belief that food, dialogue, and compassion can address human suffering in practical, everyday ways.
A Theology, A Non-Political Way of Healing
At its core, Shabana’s work insists on seeing food not only as commerce but as a theological offering for healing. To feed another is to acknowledge their dignity. To build businesses that serve communities is to resist the narrative that profit must come before people. And to share her father’s story of hunger is to remind us that empathy can be inspired by memories.
Her journey embodies a proposition: that fast food can be infused with mercy, that a shawarma can help fund literacy, and that a falafel can be part of a global movement against suffering. These ideas are not fanciful—they are already being practiced in her daily work.
Through Mercy Mediterranean, Luna’s Halal Taqueria, and Miracles 4 Mercy, Shabana is creating a template for a different kind of entrepreneurship—one that insists food can be both sustenance and empathy, both business and mercy, and ultimately, a force for change.
