Barakah : The Missing Ingredient | Jumuah Khutbah | Ustad Mohamad Baajour | EPIC Masjid

Introduction and Du'as

May Allah keep all these beautiful faces away from the hellfire, Ameen. We have Dr. Rizwan, his brother is very sick, requesting dua, and also my dear brother Rana, also his brother found out that he has cancer and he's going through a very hard time. We ask Allah to give them shifa. We ask Allah the Great, the Lord of the Great Throne, to heal them. O Allah, heal our sick and the sick of the Muslims. Have mercy on our dead and the dead of the Muslims.

Also, insha'Allah ta'ala, I will be leaving to Umrah in January. If anybody is interested in blessing this trip with me, insha'Allah ta'ala, I will be more than happy to have you. If you need more information, you can check in the front office, insha'Allah.

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah.

My dear, beloved, respected brothers and sisters, I ask Allah to bless me and you with sincerity in everything that we say and everything that we do. Ameen.

What is Barakah?

So I got the six-figure salary, the 4,000 square feet home, the beautiful neighborhood, amazing car, few children, the vacation I always dreamed about, and I thought by having all that, I will be happy. And I looked at my neighbor, half of the income, double the amount of children, moderate job, simple car, and he's always happy, never complained. So I figured that my neighbor has something that I do not have, and that thing is called barakah.

Barakah is defined as ثبوت الخير الإلهي في شيء - attachment of divine goodness in something. Or it is المنافع الكثيرة بالأسباب القليلة - maximum benefit with minimum resources. Now we have the opposite, maximum resources with minimum benefit. Barakah, when it comes to the little, it makes it abundant. And when it comes to the abundant, it makes it beneficial.

The Story of Anas and the Du'a of the Prophet

Rasulullah ﷺ, one day, he visited Umm Sulaym, may Allah be pleased with her and please her.

When he visited Umm Sulaym, she brought him some date and some butter. So he said, put back the butter and the dates in their container, I am fasting.

And then he went to a corner of the house and prayed two rak'ah. After he finished his salat, he started making du'a to Umm Sulaym and her family. So Umm Sulaym came to him and said, يا رسول الله إن لي خويصة - I have a special request. He said, ما هي؟ - What is it? She said, خادمك أنس. Umm Sulaym is Anas's mom. She said, your servant Anas. I know you made du'a for all of us, but I want a special du'a for Habibi Anas.

And we all know the story, when Rasulullah ﷺ came to Medina, everybody brought him all kinds of gifts and Umm Sulaym brought Anas as the gift. She said, Ya Rasul Allah, this is my gift to you, use him as your servant. So, Ya Rasul Allah, please make a du'a for Anas.

Anas narrating this hadith. Anas is the one narrating the hadith. He said, فما ترك خير دنيا أو آخرة إلا دعا لي به - He did not leave any khayr in this dunya or in the akhirah, except he made du'a for me. And he said:

How lucky is Anas. Ya Allah, provide for him wealth and children and put barakah in them.

Anas said, I was the richest of the Ansar, and in my life span witnessed 100 of my descendants. And he saw his kids and grandkids and great grandkids. All of this because of the barakah of the du'a of Rasulullah ﷺ.

How to Bring Barakah into Our Lives

Well, my beloved brothers and sisters, Rasulullah ﷺ is not with us anymore, but he taught us. He taught us how to bring this barakah into our life. First, from the Quran and from the sunnah as usual. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from the Quran:

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, if the people of the village, if the people of the city, if the people of the community, if the family have two things, do two things, iman and taqwa, I Allah will open for them barakat, the plural of barakah, from the sky and from the earth. What does this mean? From everywhere. When you say barakah from the samaa and from the ard, you have covered all the barakah that could ever exist.

1. True Iman and Taqwa

So number one is iman and taqwa. True iman, true tawheed. You're living by لا إله إلا الله. You die on لا إله إلا الله. You raise your children on لا إله إلا الله. True iman. And taqwa of Allah azza wa jal. Having taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wherever we are.

When Ali was asked, what is taqwa? He said: التقوى هي الخوف من الجليل والعمل بالتنزيل والرضا بالقليل والاستعداد ليوم الرحيل. Allahu Akbar. Ya Ali define taqwa. He said, fear from the Jaleel, from the all magnificent. Belief in the revelation. Being satisfied and content with the little. And always ready to depart. This is taqwa. Taqwa in the way I treat my parents. Taqwa in the way I treat my spouse. Taqwa in the way I raise my children. Taqwa in the way I treat my non-Muslim neighbors. Taqwa in my business. Taqwa in everything that I do.

2. Barakah in Business

Second, we have many business people among us. How can I have barakah in this business? First and foremost, make sure, ya akhi, the business is halal. Do not expect to open a hookah store and expect to have barakah in your business. Do not expect to open a 7-Eleven and have barakah in your business. And open all these smoke shops, subhanAllah. The survey, most of the smoke shops are owned by Muslims. إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ.

You want barakah in your business, the hadith is in the Bukhari:

The buyer and the seller, they have the choice to break the deal as long as they did not depart. And if they speak the truth, and they made everything clear about the transaction, Allah will put barakah in that transaction. And if they lie and they conceal the faults of the product, Allah mahaqa, look at this word, mahaqa, the barakah is diminished from that transaction.

Don't get me wrong, the guy will go back home with hundreds of thousands of dollars, but there will be no barakah in it, it's not about the quantity. There will be no barakah in that income that he made, in that profit that he made.

Now we ask, who is the best businessman? The best businessman is the one who comes with the best of tricks. Oh brother, you cannot sell this car, give it to me. I will make it work for three months and then it will break, don't worry. You cannot sell this house, give it to me. I'll take care of it. Everybody knows I'm the best salesman. لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ.

My brother the mechanic, my brother the real estate agent, any field that you are in, make sure you tell every fault in the product that you're selling, before you do it, if you are looking for barakah. Because you might go home with lots of money, but all that money will go into hospitals and accidents, and you'll find no barakah in it.

3. Barakah in Our Jobs

Now, many of us are not business people. How can we find barakah in our jobs? This deen has covered everything. Rasulullah ﷺ said:

Whomsoever earns his money with haqq, meaning he fulfills all that he is required to fulfill, Allah will put barakah in that income. And whomsoever take his money without haqq, he's paid to work from 9 to 5, 2-3 hours of them is on the phone. You are not paid to check your social media. You are paid to fulfill something, to do something, to complete a job, to complete a deadline. And this is what you're supposed to do if you are looking for barakah in your income.

But half of the time I'm talking and I'm playing and I'm joking around and I'm using my phone for no emergencies whatsoever. No. Rasulullah ﷺ said, Whomsoever get that income without its haqq, it is like the person who eats and eats and eats and never get full. Look at that example.

4. Barakah in Our Time

How can we have barakah in our time? SubhanAllah. Yesterday I was standing here. Time is going like crazy. How can we have barakah in our time? Ya rijal, fajr in jama'ah. You want barakah in your time? Fajr in jama'ah. Fajr in congregation of your local masjid. What's the evidence? Rasulullah ﷺ made du'a for you of barakah. He said:

Ya Allah, put barakah in my ummah or in the members of my ummah that start their day bakir, early. Is there any better place to start my day than the house of Allah azza wa jal? Wake up your family for fajr. The sister will get the same reward if she prayed at home. And you come to the masjid and you get this barakah through the whole day. You will find the barakah in your time when you start your day by attending the salat in jama'ah.

5. Barakah in Our Children

How about barakah in our children? Barakah in our children. You see a 70 year old man still working. Not because he wants to have some social life or just because he cannot stay at home. No, no, no. He's working because he needs the money and he has 6-7 children. There's no barakah in these children that would let their father when he gets 65-70 years old and still working to live. There's no barakah in your children. How could you let your father at 70 years old work for money to survive? How? And you have it. There's no barakah in you.

How can I have barakah in my children from a young age? Well, Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم he told us, or Allah azza wa jal told us:

Order, Surah Taha. Order, command your children and your family to pray, to perform salat. And here is very, very important verb. And be extremely patient. Be extremely patient.

Now the way the parents talk to their children about salat is so scary that the child only prays when the parents are present. The father, the mother travels, the child stops praying. The father, the mother die, the child stops praying. We have to make our children love the salat, so when I depart, they are still praying.

Allah said, Order, command your children to pray and your family. And be extremely, not wasbir. Allah added one more letter to the verb, wastabir. The verb is wasbir, we all know. When the verb adds one letter to it that means more emphasis on that verb. Be extremely patient. لَا نَسْأَلُكَ رِزْقًا - Don't worry about the rizq. Don't worry about the provision. Don't worry about the barakah. We will put the barakah. We, the rizq, I will provide for you.

Look at the madrasa of Muhammad ﷺ. He told us train them at 7 till 10. 3 years, 3 years of salat. If you do the math, 5,000 salat. You tell me, who does something for 5,000 times except it becomes a habit. But we, they come to the shuyukh. Shaykh, wallahi my son is 17 and he's not praying. Ya habibi, where were you at 7? Where were you at 7? Now it's extremely tough, ya akhi. Rasulullah ﷺ said start at 7. That means at 7, not when his 7th birthday is there. Yalla baba, get up and pray. He says, baba, but I don't know the fatiha, I don't know the tahiyyat. No, that means by 7 he already finished the fatiha and the small surah and he memorized the tahiyyat. Because at 7 he's gonna start Allahu Akbar and it's gonna make a huge deal. My son started praying today, my daughter started praying. She's 7. May Allah guide and protect all our children.