Author Description

Secrets of Heavenly Food, the follow-up to Hajjah Naziha's Heavenly Foods, contains over 150 recipes from a broad range of locales. Ranging from Cyprus, Lebanon, the Indian-subcontinent to Southeast Asia and even the US, these invariably delicious recipes range in difficulty from simple to involved. With step-by-step instructions and pictures it is possible for even a novice to successfully prepare the most complex dishes in this book. Introductions by the author's father, Shaykh Nazim, her husband Shaykh Hisham, and herself, expound upon the connection between food and spirituality. The heart of this book is the legacy it carries from Hajjah Amina , the author's mother, a scholar and a refugee from Russia. During the advent of communism, Hajjah Amina's family fled their native homeland of Kazan, Russia, in order to preserve their right to observe their religious faith. They sacrificed home, country, and language for the sake of their spirituality. Herein are the recipes which Hajjah Naziha has passed down from her blessed mother, Hajjah Amina. A number of recipes are exceedingly rare, and cannot be found in other sources, including the Small Meat-Filled Dumplings in Savory Tomato Broth (Peel Meen), Rose Pastries (Gul), and Golden Fingertip Pastries (Borsok). The Gul and Borsok were famously prepared by Hajjah Amina in celebration of both Eids and Mawlid an-Nabi. Hajjah Amina brought these recipes from her native country and passed them down to her daughter, Hajjah Naziha, who in turn passed them down to her own daughter, Sajeda. Through this work, Hajjah Naziha generously passes down these recipes to her "daughters" in tariqah, the female students who come to learn on the Sufi path.