Do you want barakah in your wealth?

Excerpted from the August 2017 Azzad newsletter I want to talk about barakah. The term itself is something that Muslims the world over use in various forms throughout the day. Phrases like “asalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu,” “eid mubarak,” and “barakAllah feekum” are commonly heard in our Muslim communities. People often ask God to put barakah in things–our lives, ventures, and wealth, for example. Barakah is often translated as blessings. But we have another term for that in Arabic: ni’mah. So, what exactly is barakah then? Our scholars say that barakah generally means increase, growth, and happiness. Barakah is not the specific blessing (ni’mah) itself, they say, but an increase in that given bounty. Barakah is the establishment of divine goodness in something. Its origins can’t be sensed by people, and it can’t be outwardly quantified either. Something with barakah in it is called “mubarak”–it has an unexplainable increase and benefit in it from God. An example is that when we give charity, barakah enters our remaining wealth in such a way that it increases in benefit without necessarily increasing in actual amount. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that charity does not diminish wealth (Muslim). Barakah is