Barakah
Definition
Barakah is the invisible divine blessing that attaches to lawful provision and multiplies the benefit of what might otherwise seem insufficient. Al-Ghazali argues that the same meal eaten with bismillah, gratitude, and moderation nourishes differently than the same meal eaten heedlessly or in excess. The barakah that Allah places in food is not magical but real — it operates through the transformed state of the heart that performs the act of eating with consciousness. The early Muslims were known to eat simple food and find it sufficient; those who eat in heedlessness find elaborate meals leave them still unsatisfied.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
How the scholars use Barakah.
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"It is also narrated that Abu Bakr ibn Hazm wrote to Umar ibn Abdul Aziz listing the names of the Prophet's servants, mentioning Barakah Umm Ayman, Zayd ibn Haritha, Abu Kabsha, Anas, Shu'ran, Safinah, Thawban, Rabah, Yasar, Abu Rafi, Muwayhibah, and Rafi—whom he freed all—along with Fadalah, Mud'am, and Kirkirah. Abu Bakr ibn al-Dhahhak narrated in the Shama'il from the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri with a weak chain that the Prophet ate with his servant, and Muslim reported from the hadith of Abu Yasar, "Feed them from what you eat and clothe them with what you wear.""
— Imam al-Ghazali, Book 20: The Book of the Prophetic Character
Appears in
1 book in the library
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