How Do We Get Baraka In Our Time?
Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick
Question
How can we obtain baraka in our time?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate. May Allah guide us to that which pleases Him, forgive us for our shortcomings, and alleviate our difficulties, Amin.
The most productive and blessed life ever to have lived was undoubtedly the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace). The most comprehensive advice for attaining baraka is to emulate the Prophetic model in your life, and if Allah wills, you will have some of the baraka of his life, and Allah knows best.
What is Baraka?
Baraka, sometimes translated as blessings, is the attachment of bountiful and divine goodness to a thing, stretching the small quantity beyond expectation and increasing the quality and benefit. [Ibn ‘Ashur, Al-Tahrir wa al-Tanwir]
How to Effectively Increase Baraka in Time – Make the Quran a Priority in Your Schedule.
Allah says: “This is a blessed Book which We have revealed—confirming what came before it—so you may warn the Mother of Cities and everyone around it. Those who believe in the Hereafter [truly] believe in it and guard their prayers.” [Quran, 6:92]
In the commentary of the above verse, Ibn ‘Ashur explains that the Quran is called blessed because it indicates tremendous goodness. Blessings are, therefore, built inside of it. There are blessings in its words, and Allah has placed blessings in it for its reader who occupies herself with it.
He blesses them with it in both this and the next life. The Quran is called blessed because it is comprehensive and holistic. Acting by the Quran purifies and completes the soul with theoretical and practical knowledge. Blessings would, therefore, accompany the reader of the Quran and the one who understands it.
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi said: “The way of God has shown that the one who pursues and seeks the Quran (through recitation, study, reflection, and practice) holding on to it, will attain authority in this life and happiness in the next. I have transmitted several sciences/disciplines. None of them brought me any felicity compared to the felicity I was blessed with by serving this knowledge (Quran and tafsir). [Ibn ‘Ashur, Al-Tahrir wa al-Tanwir]
More Sunna – More Baraka
As mentioned at the beginning, baraka permeates every aspect of the Prophetic model. The more sunna you can implement, the more baraka you will have. Some examples of baraka-boosting Prophetic habits are:
- to begin everything significant in the name of Allah (bismilla)
- reciting the sunna morning and evening supplications
- and reciting the invocations before sleeping.
I pray this is of benefit.
[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar, Shaykh Taha Karaan.
Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.
He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.
Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and pursuing his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.
