The Word Barakah (pronounced: bah-rah-kah) is most commonly translated in English to mean blessings.

Muslims believe that all things happen in this life through the will of their creator, Allah subhana wa ta’ala. That means in order to have access and enjoy a full and prosperous life they will need the blessings of their Lord.

This is why as Muslims we ask Allah alone to pour upon us Barakah.

Barakah in Arabic Text:

In Arabic this is written as,

بركة‎

3 Different Types of Barakah:

When we say Barakah at a higher level we are referring overall to “blessings”. There is, however, a deeper understanding of this word. Barakah can also refer to these three things:

1. Growth and Increase – when something has Barakah it tends to grow and increase. It progresses.
2. Continuity – There is a sense of continuity to things that have barakah. I.e. they are perpetual meaning they continue to have barakah.
3. Stationary – It’s here to stay. If you have ever dealt with camels you would know that once a camel sits down it’s very difficult to get the camel to stand back up. Which is why Arabs call a camel that sits down as Barakah.

How Can You Get Barakah?

The primary source of all Barakah is Allah (swt) but there are actions which can be taken to transmit barakah to you like reading the Quran or following in the footsteps of the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ).

List of Things Which Provide Barakah:

  • Allah tells us in Surah Rahman “Tabara Kasmu Rabbika zul Jalali wal Ikram” which means the name of your Rabb is full of Barakah. So, whenever you need something or do something invoke his name. (If you haven’t seen our massive 20,000 word guide on learning the ninety nine names of Allah).
  • Reading the Quran.
  • Your niyyah (intention) when performing an act. To have barakah with your actions it’s important to have the right intent. Asking yourself why you’re doing something, am I doing this for the betterment of myself and/or others or am I feeding my ego or showing off?
  • Saying Bismillah Hir rahman Nir Rahim. By reading that line you would have received barakah.
  • humbly offer dua asking Allah for Barakah. There are many different duas which can be recited. Here’s one dua which was mentioned from Sahih Al-bukhari 6334 say,

Narrated Anas: Um Sulaim said to the Prophet (ﷺ) “Anas is your servant.” The Prophet (ﷺ) said,

اللَّهُمَّ أَكْثِرْ مَالَهُ وَوَلَدَهُ، وَبَارِكْ لَهُ فِيمَا أَعْطَيْتَه

“O Allah! increase his wealth and offspring, and bless (for him) what ever you give him.”

  • Trying your best to follow the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad in everything you do.
  • Getting Married. It was narrated from Abu Hurairah: that the Prophet used to say, when offering congratulations of the occasion of marriage: “Barak Allahu lakum, wa barak ‘alaikum, wa jama’a bainakuma fi khair (May Allah bless you and bestow blessings upon you, and bring you together in harmony).” As mentioned in the Sahih hadith in Sunan Ibn Majah.
  • Praying Salah. It is said in the Quran, “And enjoin prayer upon your family [and people] and be steadfast therein. We ask you not for provision; We provide for you, and the [best] outcome is for [those of] righteousness”. Surah Taha Ayah 132.
  • Obeying Allah’s command and restrain from the things which are forbidden. “And if only the people of the cities had believed and feared Allah , We would have opened upon them blessings from the heaven and the earth; but they denied [the messengers], so We seized them for what they were earning” Surah Al A’raf 96.

Example of Barakah:

An example of Barakah could be this very site you are reading, MyIslam.org. It started as a personal blog that was intended as a tool to motivate me to learn specific Islamic duas, topics, and the Sunnah of our Prophet. I did not ever expect to actually hire Islamic writers to help expand our topics, or actually have an audience that would be interested to read my grammatically incorrect sentences.

This is barakah.

In the past month (March 2020) we reached over 120,000 visitors who have read our content and hopefully found it beneficial and expanded their knowledge on some topics of Islam.

This is barakah. 

We are growing every month reaching more and more users, if we remain stationary that’s 1,440,000 people we will have helped this year. Inshallah with the barakah of Allah we will continue to grow and help many more to come.