Barakah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (March 2007)

For other uses, see Baraka.

Barakah (Arabic: بركة : also Baraka) is an Arabic term meaning blessing, particularly, spiritual gifts or protection transmitted from God. It is also described as "the greater good" derived from any act. The parallel Jewish term is the cognate Berachah, in Christianity charisma or divine grace. Barakah also refers to the favorable result of any action due to divine blessing. It is also a Sufi term referring to a sense of "divine presence" or "charisma."

Muslims believe that "sincere invocation of God", good deeds, repentance, and prayer, may dispose God to dispenseBarakah into their lives.^{[citation needed]} This is supposed to make things easier, happier, and more blessed in this life,^{[citation needed]} and by God's mercy, in the Hereafter. For Muslims, God uses his Barakah to make the impossible possible.^{[citation needed]}

Baraka is used in contemporary French as a synonym of "luck". A person who has "baraka" is said to be able to emerge unscathed from dangerous situations. This use of the term derives from the time of French colonization in Algeria (1830-1962).

Barakah is also the origin of U.S. politician Barack Obama's first name via Swahili which has been heavily influenced by Arabic.

Barakah was the name of Al-Said Barakah a Sultan in Egypt who ruled from 1277 to 1279.

[edit] References and further reading

C. Coulon, et al. Charisma and Brotherhood in African Islam. Oxford Univ. Press, 1988. ISBN 019822723X.
L. N. Takim. The Heirs of the Prophet: Charisma And Religious Authority in Shi'ite Islam. SUNY Press, 2006. ISBN .
P. Werbner, et al. Embodying Charisma: Modernity, Locality and Performance of Emotion in Sufi Cults. Routledge, 1998. ISBN .