2015 11 20 Imam Nadeem Bashir

Khutbah: The Importance of Barakah

الله أكبر، الله أكبر، لا إله إلا الله

In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful. All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, we seek His help, we seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls. Whom Allah guides, none can misguide him. Whom He misguides, none can guide him. We bear witness that there is no god but Allah, there is no partner with Allah. We bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

Verily, the best of speech is the Book of Allah. And the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, peace be upon him. And the worst of things are newly invented matters. And every newly invented matter is an innovation. And every innovation is a misguidance. And every misguidance is in the Fire.

The One Thing on Every Person's Mind

Respected brothers and sisters, every day we wake up and we go to sleep, and there are multiple things on our mind. Whether those things are related to us from a community perspective, whether they are family related, whether they are related to our children. But there is one thing that is on the mind of every single person — and that is that I need to always ensure that I have a steady job, a source of income, that I can provide food for my family, I can provide a place to live for my family and for myself.

And the minute we find out that there are people, or the company that we may be working for, is slashing jobs — the very first thing that comes to our mind is: will I be one of those people who will be laid off or not? If I am laid off, what happens to me? What happens to my children? What happens to this house of mine? How will I provide for myself? How will my future be? In these economic times, we are always worried about these things. And so every single time when we raise our hands and we make du'a to Allah, there is something that is always on our tongues: "Oh Allah, give us more."

When we go for Hajj or Umrah, we are standing in front of the Ka'bah, and we are saying to Allah, we are asking Allah, we are pleading to Allah: "Oh Allah, give me more. Oh Allah, give me more. Whatever I have, it is not enough. And I want more and I want more." And that is human beings. This is who we are. And there is really nothing wrong in asking from Allah.

The Real Du'a: Ask for Barakah

But today in my khutbah, I want to bring this before you — the importance of barakah. And when we make du'a to Allah, the real du'a that we should be making is not "Oh Allah, give me more," but rather, "Oh Allah, grant me barakah in my life."

Because let me tell you the difference between a person who has been blessed with barakah versus a person who has not been blessed with barakah. There are people in our community, or in our society, that they probably earn $10,000 a month, $15,000, $20,000 — and yet they are not able to take care of their needs. That is a person whom Allah has not granted barakah in his wealth.

On the other hand, you have a person who only earns probably $3,000, $4,000 a month, but alhamdulillah, all his needs are satisfied. He is so happy. He is so content. Logic says that the more money you have, the more happy you will be. But Allah says that if He puts barakah in your wealth, that is what will bring you happiness. It's not about the quantity — it's about the quality of money. Whether that money has been blessed with barakah or not.

Barakah in Business

When I talk about my business — if I have a business — there are some people for whom the business is such a barakah and such a blessing, that they are able to give time to their business and also give time to their families. Because what we see in our times is that when you have your own business, especially in the beginning few years of starting up, you are giving all your time to your business, and you have told your family from before and mentally prepped them that they are going to see less of you. That is not called barakah, because you are taking away time from your family.

Barakah in Knowledge

When I talk about barakah in my knowledge, what we should be asking Allah is not more and more knowledge, but "Oh Allah, grant me barakah in my knowledge." Because there are people who may have this much knowledge, but subhanAllah, people have changed their lives because of that limited knowledge that they have. People are coming closer to Allah because of that limited knowledge they may have. Compared to a person who may not have any barakah in their knowledge — they are accumulating knowledge, but their knowledge is not benefiting them, is not benefiting anyone else. Through their knowledge, people are not coming closer to Allah, but rather people are drifting away from Allah.

Barakah in Children

When I talk about barakah in my children — what does that mean? When I say "Oh Allah, grant me barakah in my children," it means that there might be a person who may not have barakah in his children. He may have so many children, but they don't bring him that comfort, that coolness of eyes, that peace of heart. Compared to a person who may have barakah in his children — he may have only a few children, but those children are his sadaqah jariyah. Those children are such that after this person departs from this world, these children are continuing his legacy. They are a mercy for him, they are a coolness of eyes for him.

This is what we need to be asking Allah, my brothers and sisters. We live in a time that we want so much, and we don't realize that the more we are asking Allah, the more our accountability will take place on the Day of Judgment. Allah says in the Quran:

Do you think that just because you earned this much and you got away with it — just because you report to Uncle Sam and you pay your taxes every year — do you think that's your accountability? No. The accountability, the real accountability, is going to be in the Hereafter. So it doesn't come down to how much money we need; it comes down to whether Allah is putting barakah in that money that I have or not. Because if Allah puts that barakah — wallahi — even with the little that Allah may give us, we will be extremely content. We will be happy. And that's what we want, right? At the end of the day, why do we want more? Because I want to be happy. I want this money to be sufficient. Well, Allah is willing to make that wealth sufficient — but ask for barakah.

Stories of Barakah from the Life of the Prophet ﷺ

The Story of Jabir and the Battle of the Trench

I want to share with you a story from the life of Rasulullah ﷺ, just to give you an idea of what barakah truly is. This is the Battle of the Trench — Ghazwat al-Ahzab. The Prophet ﷺ and the Sahaba, may Allah be pleased with them, were digging up the trenches. And it was a time of extreme difficulty upon the Sahaba. The Sahaba, out of hunger — because they were going through the pain of hunger — had tied stones to their stomachs.

They came to Rasulullah ﷺ and they said, "Ya Rasulullah, the hunger is out of control. We can't take this anymore." The Prophet ﷺ raised his shirt, and there was not one stone but two stones tied to the stomach of Rasulullah ﷺ.

So Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him, saw this and went home. He asked his wife, "Do we have any food at home?" She said that the only thing they had was just one goat or one sheep, and some flour — that was all. So Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him, sacrificed the animal, told his wife to cook the animal and make some bread, and said, "I'm going to go and invite Rasulullah ﷺ."

Now Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him, came to the Prophet ﷺ while the Sahaba were sitting around him. He came to the Prophet ﷺ and told him quietly in his ear: "Ya Rasulullah, you and a few of your close companions are invited to my home tonight for food. I know you're extremely hungry. You're invited." Now you can imagine — we're talking about just one animal, one goat, one sheep. How many people can it feed? Probably 10 to 15 people at the most.

So what happened is that the Prophet ﷺ got up. And Jabir is sitting there. The Prophet ﷺ got up and said, "Oh my Sahaba! Today all of you have a dawah at Jabir's home!" And Jabir is like, "Oh my God! How am I going to invite all these people? I only invited the Prophet and a few of his companions — I can't feed all these people!" Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him, was concerned. He was thinking, should I buy extra animals? Should I sacrifice them? What should I do?

He came home and narrated the entire incident to his wife. And his wife — and she was very intelligent — asked, "Did you invite everyone, or did the Prophet invite everyone?" He replied that the Prophet invited everyone. She said, "If the Prophet invited everyone, then there is something that he knows which you may not know. Just follow along with the Prophet ﷺ and let him take care of the matter." He said, "Okay."

The Prophet ﷺ gave special instructions to Jabir: "When the food is ready, let me serve the food. No one else will serve the food." We are talking about more than hundreds of Sahaba in the Battle of the Trench. All of them came one by one, and they did not just take one bite and leave. 10, 15 Sahaba came, they ate until their fill, they left. The next batch of Sahaba came, they ate until they were alhamdulillah satisfied, they left. That one animal — that one animal — was sufficient for the entire Muslim army.

That is what you call Barakah. That is what you call Barakah.

The Story of Abu Hurayrah and the Bowl of Milk

Let me share with you another story. Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him — the one who has narrated the most ahadith from Rasulullah ﷺ. It is narrated that Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, was one of those Sahaba who went through a lot of hunger. There were days when he did not have anything to eat.

So one day Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, was sitting, and Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, walked by. In the back of his mind, Abu Hurayrah was thinking, "I am going to strike a conversation with Abu Bakr, and hopefully during this conversation I can walk with him, and he will take me to his home, and I will be able to eat something." So he said, "Ya Abu Bakr, what is the tafsir of this ayah?" And Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, just stood there, explained to him the tafsir of the ayah, and he left.

So Abu Hurayrah is thinking, "Okay, this didn't work with Abu Bakr. Let me try with Umar." Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, walked by. "Ya Umar, what is the tafsir of this ayah?" Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, explained that ayah too, and never said, "Okay, let's walk." The plan was not successful again.

Then came Rasulullah ﷺ. As soon as Abu Hurayrah asked a question to Rasulullah ﷺ, the Prophet realized right away what was going on with Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him. So he said, "Abu Hurayrah, come with me. Come with me."

He went home and found there was a bowl of milk. Now I want you to think about this — we're talking about just a bowl of milk. Today, my kid, your kid, they eat cereal — one bowl of milk is nothing. So what happened is that the Prophet ﷺ asked, "Where did this bowl of milk come from?" It came as a gift. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Abu Hurayrah, I want you to go to Masjid an-Nabawi and I want you to call all the Ahl as-Suffah."

Now Abu Hurayrah was looking at the milk and thinking, "The Prophet is going to give me all this milk, and now I have to go and call all the Ahl as-Suffah? I'm not going to get any milk." But Abu Hurayrah understood that this was the order of the Prophet ﷺ — there was no choice. So he went to Masjid an-Nabawi and brought the Ahl as-Suffah, and they all sat down.

Now Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, tried to play a smart game. He said to himself, "Let me try to sit in such a place that before anyone gets the milk, I get the milk." But as soon as the milk was about to come to Abu Hurayrah, the Prophet ﷺ said, "Give it to all the Ahl as-Suffah first." And Abu Hurayrah was like, "Oh man. This is difficult."

So he took that bowl of milk and took it to each of the Ahl as-Suffah. Each Sahabi among the Ahl as-Suffah drank from it. And Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, was watching — giving them looks, like, "How much is he drinking? How much is he drinking?" And it went all the way around. Each person had drunk as they wished. Then the only two people left were Rasulullah ﷺ and Abu Hurayrah himself.

The Prophet ﷺ said, "Abu Hurayrah, it's only me and you left." Abu Hurayrah said, "Yes, there's only just two of us left." So the Prophet ﷺ said, "Abu Hurayrah, drink." So he took one sip. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Drink more." And Abu Hurayrah kept on drinking. "Drink more." He kept on drinking. He went to Rasulullah ﷺ: "That's it." The Prophet ﷺ said, "Drink more." And Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, said that he continued to drink, and drink, and drink, until he had no more space in his stomach. Then the Prophet ﷺ took that bowl of milk and drank from it himself.

Once again — a bowl of milk went through all the Ahl as-Suffah, Abu Hurayrah drank till he had no room left in his stomach, and even the Prophet ﷺ drank after that.

My brothers and sisters, that is what you call Barakah. That is what you call Barakah.

So I pray to Allah that may Allah put barakah in our lives, may Allah put barakah in our children, may Allah put barakah in our jobs, may Allah put barakah in all aspects of our lives.

Second Khutbah

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, we seek His help, we seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls. Whom Allah guides, none can misguide him. Whom He misguides, none can guide him. We bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone with no partner. And we bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

How to Attain Barakah

Now some of you may be thinking, "I want this barakah. I really want this barakah. What can I do to attain that barakah?" Because there's not a lot of time left, there are just a few things I want to mention — just to name them without going into a lot of detail.

1. Be Good to Your Family

One of the very first things that we can do in order to bring that barakah into our life is: be good to your family. The Prophet ﷺ says in a hadith that the best amongst you is the one who is good to his family.

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3895)

When you treat your family well, Allah will treat you well. Be good to your family — this is one of the ways that you can bring barakah into all aspects of your life.

2. Ensure Your Income Is Halal

Number two: making sure that your income is considered Islamically as a lawful one, not an unlawful one. If you have an unlawful source of income, ask Allah to replace that with one that is considered halal and lawful. Because Allah will only then put barakah into your wealth.

3. Pray Salah on Time

Number three: making sure that we pray salah on time. When we are at work, when we are at school, we tend to leave our salah, we tend to delay our salah. One of the best things that we can do to bring that barakah into our life is to pray salah on time.

4. Make Abundant Istighfar

Number four: to make an abundance of istighfar. There was a story of Hasan al-Basri, may Allah have mercy on him, that three different people came to him, all three of them with different complaints — one of them was a person who didn't have enough wealth. Hasan al-Basri, may Allah have mercy on him, told all three of them: make istighfar. When we commit sins, Allah takes the barakah away from our life. The more we make istighfar, the more we are repenting to Allah, the more we are coming closer to Allah, and Allah will again provide that barakah in our life.

Closing Du'a

Once again, I pray to Allah that may He give us barakah in all aspects of our life. Especially on the day of Jumu'ah, we should ask Allah for more barakah — for ourselves, for our family members, for our community members.

And please, on the day of Friday, do not forget our Muslim brothers and sisters all over the world and all the misery that they are going through. I pray to Allah that He alleviate their miseries. May Allah bring easier times upon the Muslim Ummah. May Allah — all the refugees in all the countries, all those Muslim brothers and sisters who are oppressed in any part of the world — may Allah save them from oppression, may Allah save them from dhulm, may Allah make things easier for all the Muslims around the entire world.

I pray to Allah that He forgives us as the Ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ, for we have truly transgressed against the limits of Allah. May Allah forgive us, overlook our shortcomings, and bring easier times to our Ummah. And once again, may Allah remove all the difficulties in our life. May Allah save Islam and Muslims everywhere. May Allah save us from those who are against us. May Allah protect our countries and our children. May Allah cure our sick. May Allah heal our afflicted.