A Reflection After Reading: The Barakah Effect

Disclaimers: The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of any parties, if any, cited here.

Bismillah.

The book: The Barakah Effect, authored by Mohammed Faris.

?As for the background:

• As a born Muslim, I admit that I often, take things in my life for granted especially regarding the deen.
• Therefore, it did not come naturally to me that the connection between the deen and the world we live in, including our career/business, is supposedly to be THAT close. I need to go through a ‘rediscovery’ process in my life to arrive to that understanding.
• After that rediscovery, just recently I realized that there are many disconnects between the deen and the world we live in and the impact in our lives as Muslims and the world in general.

Let’s dive in.

The book beautifully captured all the barakah that Allah has bestowed upon us that I did not see before. Right before my eyes.

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I will start this article with the definition of ‘Barakah’ itself. The author has done amazing work researching it (may Allah reward him immensely) and I will write six of his references on Barakah definition (point 1-6 taken directly from The Barakah Effect book page 26-27):

1. Imam Al-Raghib Al-Asfahani, an 11th-century scholar, saw Barakah as “the attachment of Divine Goodness to a thing”.
2. The 13th-century scholar Ibn-Al Qayyim defined Barakah as the “abundance and permanence goodness”.
3. Dr. Samir Mahmoud, the Academic Director of Usul Academy, described it as “a spiritual energy or force emanating from Allah that enters people, places, and objects, transforming them into conduits or vehicles for this divine energy”.
4. Dr. Tamara Gray, founder of Rabata.org, referred to Barakah as a “spiritual force that brings increase to a person’s life without a defined input”.
5. Dr. Abdallah Rothman, a professor in Islamic Psychology, characterized Barakah as “an abundant flowing positive energy resulting from alignment with Allah”.
6. Dr. Khalil Abdur-Rashid, a lecturer at Harvard Divinity School and the first Muslim Chaplain at Harvard University, identified Barakah as “a mystical experience – a form of communication from Allah”.

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According to the above definition, there are four parts of Barakah understanding:

• The divine nature of Barakah,
• The divine placement of Barakah (places, people - Rasulullah SAW, faith & God-consciousness, time, in the Quran/The Scripture)
• The Barakah effect --> time seems to expand, allowing us to achieve more; even small amounts of food leave us feeling sated; our money and wealth stretch beyond and benefit many; and so on.
• Barakah leads us back to Allah

So, Barakah can enter our life in various ways and if we have obtain it, we do not let that Barakah slip away.

Reflection:

• How does that time that we have seem so far? Do we feel it is expanding or narrowing?
• How about our job? Have we optimized our effort and continuously learn to improve?
• How is our wealth? Does it able to benefit many in good ways? Does it bring us peace?
• How about our daily activities? Our health? Our relationship with our family? Our parents as our source of Barakah?

So then how to start instilling Barakah Culture in life?

According to the author, there are 11 ways:

1. God-centric instead of Ego-centric --> --> in business and career setting, consider if we operate in ways that pleases Him? In this world, it might be interpreted as maintaining integrity.
2. Purpose & impact-driven instead of Personal success-driven
3. Hereafter focus vs Worldly focus --> --> this does not at all mean that we are slacking off in our daily job/activities. On the contrary, the understanding of the hereafter vs worldly focus should be able to catapult us further into a better person as what we do in this world shall be a vehicle for the afterlife.
4. Focus on acceptance from Allah vs Focus on results
5. Abundance mindset vs Scarcity mindset --> --> in career/business context, to believe that if it is meant to be for us, it will mean to be, of course without negating, that we indeed need to have excellent strategy to win. Learning and making progress are part of our deen eventually.
6. Content vs Never Satisfied --> --> again, this does not mean we do not improve, this does not mean we do not innovate. The contentment shall come in the form of gratitude, of the things that we have been able to do and achieve because of Allah, but this does not negate if we have ambition to pursue.
7. Focused vs Distracted
8. Being grateful vs Seeking credit --> --> write down our blessings, celebrate team achievements, give credit to those who deserve to get it.
9. Tranquility and presence vs Rushed and busy
10. A sense of responsibility vs A sense of entitlement --> --> point 9 & 10: does not mean we do not want to have many activities, no. The emphasis is that we need to be mindful of our activities and time as we have different roles in our life (as an employee, mother/father, daughter/son to our parents, siblings, and ultimately a God’s servant). Help each other. After all, we are one tiny organism in this grand scheme called The Universe.
11. Small but consistent efforts vs Big moves and constant pivoting --> --> identify a small good habit/routine that we can maintain so that it yields positive outcomes, at the same time when big changes happen we must also be ready to adapt.

In this article, I only write a small part of the book and the reflection. For more thorough understanding, I advise you to get a copy, read, and reflect on yourself. In Indonesia, I obtain this from IG: Barakah Indonesia Barakah Indonesia .

I fully acknowledge that humans are not perfect, but humans also are fully capable of re-learning. To always make progress is a possibility no matter how small. After all, we Muslims know that Allah judges based on our intention and optimum effort.

It’s a lot to digest. Maybe a few skepticism as well?

So let that sink in.

Thank you for reading this far. May Allah bless you abundantly.