If we were to look for an Islamic definition of Productivity, it can probably be summarized in the word "barakah" or B...
If we were to look for an Islamic definition of
Productivity, it can probably be summarized in the word "barakah" or
Blessing. Being able to achieve more with few resources, doing much in
little time, and generating a lot with little effort is surely a blessing
from Allah (Subahanahu Wa Ta'ala).
Yet Barakah has somehow become a lost
treasure these days; everyone's looking for it, but no one seems to find
it! You always hear people complaining that there's no barakah in their
time, no barakah in their sleep, no barakah in their money and the rest of
it.
What is Barakah?
Well-known daee explains it as follows:
****والبركة: هي ثبوت الخير الإلهي في
الشيء؛ فإنها إذا حلت في قليل كثرته، وإذا حلت في كثير نفع، ومن أعظم ثمار
البركة في الأمور كلها إستعمالها في طاعة الله عز وجل.*****"
Barakah is the attachment of Divine goodness to a thing, so if it occurs in something
little, it increases it. And if it occurs in something much it benefits.
And the greatest fruits of Barakah in all things is to use that barakah in
the obedience of Allah (Subahanahu Wa Ta'ala)"*** *Sources of Barakah*
I'm a firm believer that Barakah is not a lost treasure, rather, it's right in
front of our eyes! This treasure is only available and ready to be handed
over to the one who works for it. Below, I list some of the sources of
Barakah. It's not an exhaustive list, therefore, I do hope you can
contribute to it with your comments inshaAllah so we can all share and
extend our understanding of this great treasure at ProductiveMuslim.com
1. Good Intentions
*If you want something to have barakah attached to
it, have good intentions for it. More specifically, make sure that deed is
intended for the sake of Allah (Subahanahu Wa Ta'ala). Looking again at the
definition of Barakah, you may guess that without us intending what we have
or do for the Sake of Allah, the "Divine goodness" won't be found in our
deeds.
2. Piety and Belief in Allah
*Allah says in the Quran: *"If the people of the towns had but believed and feared Allah, We should indeed
have opened out to them (All kinds of) blessings from heaven and
earth…"(Surah Al-A'raf, Verse 96)*. And He says in the Quran: *"And for
those who fear Allah, He (ever) prepares a way out. And He provides for him
from (sources) he never could imagine" (Surah Al-Talaq, Verses 2-3).*** *
3. Putting your trust in Allah
*Allah says in the Quran: *"And if any one puts
his trust in Allah, sufficient is (Allah) for him. For Allah will surely
accomplish his purpose. Verily, for all things has Allah appointed a due
proportion" (Surah Al-Talaq, verses 3)***Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon
him) said: *"If only you relied on Allah a true reliance, He would provide
sustenance for you just as He does the birds: They fly out in the morning
empty and return in the afternoon with full stomachs. (Ahmad, An-Nasa'I,
Ibn Majah, Al-Hakim and At-Tirmidhi)*** *
4. Reading Quran
*This is the fountain of Barakah! But subhanaAllah, we rarely drink from it! Allah says
in the Quran: "*And this is a Book which We have sent down, bringing
blessings, and confirming (the revelations) which came before it…" (Surah
Al-An'am, Verse 92)*. So read the Quran, and observe the blessings and
barakah of Allah enter your life. The further we are from this Book of
Guidance, the less barakah we will have in our lives.** *
5. Saying Bismillah
*When you say "Bismillah" before anything you do, you're invoking the Name
of Allah on that activity; not only will that activity be blessed but
shaytaan cannot take part in it! So always say "Bismillah" before anything
you do! mSubhanaAllah, it's easy for us to forget to say "Bismillah".
Sometimes we're so used to saying it that we cannot remember whether we
said it or not! Try to be conscious of saying "Bismillah" and understand
what you're saying before your action is performed.** *
6. Eating with People
*Anyone who has had the experience of inviting guests to his/her house will
know this one. No matter how little you think the food you're presenting to
your guest is, it's always more than enough! (Note: this is not an excuse
to be miserly when you invite guests over; in fact we should follow the
Sunnah of our Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) whom when visited by the
angels prepared a large meal for them). What I'm referring to here is the
blessing that occurs when eating together, confirmed in the hadeeth of
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who said: "*Eat together, for blessing
is in Jamma'a (congregation or being together)…" *and in another
hadeeth:*"Whoever has food enough for two persons, should take a third one, and whoever has
food enough for four persons, should take a fifth or a sixth (or said
something similar)." (Bukhari, Volume 4. Book 56. Number 781)*** *
7. Honesty in Trade
This is for all of the business people out there (include ebayers!). We shouldn't assume
lying and deceiving people will make our trade profitable. On the contrary, it will remove
the blessing from your trade. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:*"The buyer and
the seller have the option of canceling or confirming the bargain unless they
separate, and if they spoke the truth and made clear the defects of the
goods, then they would be blessed in their bargain, and if they told lies
and hid some facts, their bargain would be deprived of Allah's blessings".(
Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 34, Number 293)***Yes, it's difficult to be honest
when you're trying to sell something, but trust me it's worth it.** *
8. Dua
*Ask Allah for barakah! If you take note of some of the Duas of the Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him) you'll notice that the Prophet used to make
dua for barakah. We always say: "May Allah bless you!" Well, guess what?
That's a source of barakah! Also, when you're invited to someone's house,
Prophet Muhammad advised us to make the following dua for the host: *"O
Allah, bless for them, that which You have provided them, forgive them and
have mercy upon them."*** *
9. Halal Income/money
*Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: *"O people, Allah is good and He therefore,
accepts only that which is good"* (Scholars say this refers to Halal income and the
importance of it).**A scholar also said of the one who eats Haram, that his
limbs will disobey Allah whether he likes it or not, and that the one who
eats Halal and seeks Halal income, his limbs will also do good and will be
given the permission to seek goodness.**This concept of your limbs being
'blessed' and enabled to do good is truly a blessing and a barakah we
should all seek. It reminds me of a story of an old man who jumped a large
distance that the young men were unable to jump. When the young men asked
the old man how he did it, he replied: *"These are our limbs: we protected
them from committing sins when we were young, so Allah preserved them for
us when we got old"*.** *
10. Following the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad in Everything
*I've said it before and I'll say it again, the most Productive
Man in the history of humanity is our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be
upon him). Therefore, by simply following his lifestyle and the acts of
Sunnah we so often hear about, we obtain a great source of Barakah!**Some
of these Sunnahs include: eating Suhoor, eating with the right hand from
the side of the plate, going out for Eid Salah, licking your fingers after
finishing your meal, sleeping on your right hand side, using the siwaak,
and many more. Look out for these Sunnahs and follow them, for imitating
the life of the most blessed man on earth is surely a source of blessing!**
11. Praying Istikhara
*Praying istikhara in all matters and then leaving
the outcome to Allah as well as accepting His Decree is a great source of
barakah. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught us this beautiful
dua which helps us make decisions and not regret the choices we make in the
following hadeeth:**On the authority of Jaabir Ibn 'Abdullah he said: "The
Prophet (peace be upon him) would instruct us to pray for guidance in all
of our concerns, just as he would teach us a chapter from the Qur'an. He
(peace be upon him) would say: 'If any of you intends to undertake a matter
then let him pray two supererogatory units (two rak'ah optional nafil) of
prayer and after which he should supplicate:***'O Allah, I seek Your
counsel by Your knowledge and by Your power I seek strength and I ask You
from Your immense favour, for verily You are able while I am not and verily
You know while I do not and You are the Knower of the unseen. O Allaah, if
You know this affair to be good for me in relation to my religion, my life, and end,
then decree and facilitate it for me, and bless me with it, and if You know this affair
to be ill for me towards my religion, my life, and end, then remove it from me and remove
me from it, and decree for me what is good wherever it be and make me
satisfied with such."***One who seeks guidance from his Creator and
consults his fellow believers and then remains firm in his resolve does not
regret for Allah has said:***'…and consult them in the affair. Then when
you have taken a decision, put your trust in Allah…" [Quran 3: 159*]** *
12. Giving thanks to Allah in abundance
*Allah says in the Quran: *"If ye are
grateful, I will add more (favours) unto you"*. A scholar once told me that
if one looks into this verse, the Arabic word that is used to confirm that
Allah Wills favours unto the person who thanks Him is actually in the form
of an Oath – "La azidannakum". So Allah is promising the person who thanks
Him an increase in goodness and blessings, and Allah never breaks His
promises.** *
13. Charity
In a Hadeeth Qudsi, Allah says: *"O son of Adam,
spend (in charity), and I'll spend on you!" *Whenever you are broke, or you
feel barakah is zapped out of your life and urgently need it to return, the
quickest of way of gaining barakah in your life can be through giving
charity. For example, let's say barakah was removed from your life due to a
sin you committed; charity cleanses your sins, adds good deeds and is a
source of barakah.**I cannot describe the instantaneous gratification of
giving charity and the barakah that follows it. Try it NOW!** *
14. Tyingy our ties of kinship
*Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, Narated By Abu Huraira : I heard Allah's Apostle saying,
"Whoever is pleased that he be granted more wealth and that his lease of life be pro longed, then
he should keep good relations with his Kith and kin (Volumn 008, Book 073, Hadith Number 014).
(Kith and Kin means friends ("kith") and family ("kin"))
15. Waking up early
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "*Allah made the early hours blessed for
my Ummah."(Ahmed)***This hadeeth was what spurred me to create
ProductiveMuslim.com <http://productivemuslim.com/>! Such gems of
productivity are the sources of blessings which we should seek to make our
life productive. Waking up early is such an important step to being blessed
and feeling good throughout your day.**Try to wake up for Tahajjud, and
then work during the hours before Fajr Salah. If you cannot, then at least
wake up for Fajr and stay up till sunrise before you return to sleep. Those
hours are filled with Barakah. If you're able to go to work in those hours,
do so, you'll get much more work done than the whole day put together!** *
16. Marriage
*Allah says in the Quran: *"Marry those among you who are single,
or the virtuous ones among yourselves, male or female: if they are in
poverty, Allah will give them means out of His grace: for Allah
encompasseth all, and He Knoweth all things." (Quran 24:32)***Speaking of
marriage, I highly recommend the following training course to anyone
seriously thinking of getting married: www.Practimate.com
17. Salah
*Allah says in the Quran: *"Enjoin prayer on thy people, and
be constant therein. We ask thee not to provide sustenance: We provide it
for thee. But the (fruit of) the Hereafter is for righteousness"*. To
illustrate the point of Salah further, just imagine your life without this
great act of ibadah. Where would Barakah come from? For those of you who
are still wavering in your Salah, please get back on track; this is your
lifeline for the final destination in the hereafter, and the daily food for
your soul.** *
18. Asking Allah for forgiveness
*The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: *"If anyone continually asks forgiveness from Allah, Allah will
appoint for him a way out of every distress, and a relief from every
anxiety, and will provide for him from where he did not reckon."***I hope
this covers most of the sources of Barakah, although this is not an
exhaustive list. www.productivemuslim.com
