by S Demirel · 2015 · Cited by 10 — Concept of Barakah in Qur’ān and Sunnah: Towards its Realization in Modern Discourse. Serdar Demirel*. Hikmatullah Babu Sahib**. Abstract. One of the
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Concept of Barakah Serdar Demirel* Hikmatullah Babu Sahib**AbstractOne of the concepts Islam considers important for human prosperity is the concept of barakah (Divine blessing). It is the increase in quality and quantity of God™s blessing via unseen ways to human life. The word barakah also means to make the felicity constant and permanent, which also means abundance and the continuity of that. However, with modernity barakah has become an alienated concept in the life of modern man. This re – search explores and discusses the reasons behind the lack of divine blessing in human life in modern times and the profane worldview behind it by highlighting its importance and Keywords: Bereket Özet – – Anahtar Kelimeler: – – http://dergipark.ulakbim.gov.tr/fsmia – http://dergi.fsm.edu.tr /Number 5 /Year /Spring
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262Introduction One of the concepts Islam considers important for human prosperity is the concept of barakah (Divine blessing) Œ an alient concept to modernity. This may be the reason that this concept and its derivatives have been mentioned repeatedly in the Noble . It can be said that, barakah is the increase in quality and quantity of God™s blessing via unseen ways to human. It is, in fact, an invisible blessing that manifests itself as an increase that cannot be calculated in material terms encompassing the whole human affairs. The word barakah also means to make the felicity constant and permanent, which also means abundance and the continuity of that. But, with modernity barakah has become an alienated concept in the life of modern man. Thus humanity suffers the results together. This is be – cause modernity denotes a transition period in which the human mind is cleared off the sacred and being appraised in a reductionist fashion, mincing a worldview which encompasses both physical and metaphysical perspectives into a mere – relationship with things in a manner independent from the sacred. Once the per -ception became profane, then it is impossible for the values to orientate the hu – man behaviour. Thus barakah is one of the concepts that need to be ficuredfl. This research explores and discusses the reasons behind the lack of divine blessing in human life in modern times and the profane worldview behind it by highlighting its importance and application in the light of both, the A Break in the History: Modernity metaphysical world, as it is impossible to speak about a society in a geographical transition period in which the human mind is freed from the sacred and reduced to a pure physical world perspective bereft of any metaphysical aspect of being. values to act as mediator and orientation point in the relationships between indi – viduals; between members and the society; and between the society and the state. It essentially based the understanding and interpreting of the existence fihere™ (in -tes the hardest core of the modern life speculation.This paper particularly wants to underline the fact that whenever it discusses about modernity, it alludes to the fi from which fimany wor –
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263ldviewsfl proliferate. It is not possible to tackle the issue by assigning it merely – hievements stand like a spectre between man and the paradigm created by this technology, the vast majority fail to see the profane worldview disguised by this and he fails to see the relation between modernity and many other contemporary dilemmas he falls into. It is a situation that gains legitimacy, when the subject is abated to technology. However, modernity expresses more than one secular worldview; it connotes rather a lifestyle constructed by these worldviews devoid of the sacred. The most problematic area of this speculation is absolutely the exclusion of the sacred. -ght; and of course it could not have been. This break started from a centre point just like ripples on the water; and it expanded with activities of various moving forces to the whole area that the same water spanned over. This transition origina -ted in Europe and penetrated the whole world within centuries. Therefore, we can Japan and China only separately since they emerged in different cultural spheres although they share the same core. Thus, one has to examine the emergence of modernity historically, even at a brief glance, as to read the modernity correctly. chain of events or a logical base that lays the foundation for a phenomenon. In what follows a brief but succinct summary of the historical background of the emergence of this phenomenon is provided. fl and fi fl started in the 16th Eventually, it evolved into a movement of thought and action in a way unbounded – new understanding of the existence based on human rationale. It brought a different perspective to religious reading. It was an objection to chur -ch™s understanding and interpretation of religion. The attempt to integrate new interpretations to the methodology of the church and its religious practices was an important aspect. Thus, it aimed to unbridle religious reading and interpreta -tion of religion from the monopoly of the church and clear the path of individual interpretation of the scripture by man himself. Of course, in essence this reading
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264laid the basis of an approach, which wanted to emancipate itself from the central religious criteria established since centuries and from the methodology built on these criteria with the aim to replace them with the individual fimindfl. It was not a coincidence that renaissance originated from the world of Chris -tianity. In the Christian world, religion was under the monopoly of the church, and the clergy, acting on behalf of God on earth, was dominating the political life. Eventually this movement assumed the mission of bringing an end to this perception of religion, religious institutions and practices.The 17th – lent philosophical endeavours various anticipations such as: man is an intelligent is a relation between intelligence and nature, it is possible to grasp the mysteries and the secrets of the planet if the intelligence becomes the essential centre in life and the resulting knowledge can be used for the sake of humanity. This idea eventually became the lever of the Enlightenment which emerged during the fol – lowing century. 1The 18th politics and thinking.2 -1 /, accessed on: 11-05-2015. 2 Commenting on this, Gillespie, in the preface of his recent work pleads in defends of modernity saying that, fiIndeed, since the time of the Enlightenment modernity has thought then attempting to put it out of its misery by declaring God was dead, and culminating in the exceptional decline in religious belief and practice in the latter half of the twentieth century. the attachment to religion is often perceived, especially by intellectuals and academics, as opposition. This opposition to religion in the modern age, however, should not be taken as a proof that at its core modernity is antireligious. It is certainly true that modernity has consistently struggled against certain forms of religious doctrine and practice, including the cult of the saints, teleology, the natural law teachings of scholasticism, the geocentric vision of the natural world, and creationism, but I want to suggest that this does not mean that it was therefore a rejection of religion as such. The argument presented in this book suggests that it is a mistake to imagine that modernity is in its origins and at its core atheistic, antireligious, or even agnostic. Indeed, I will show in what follows that from the very beginning modernity sought not to eliminate religion but to support and develop a new view of religion and its place in human life, and that it did so not out of hostility to religion but in order to sustain certain
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265 3 and claimed that man lives in an intelligent planet and in order to grasp the rules that man must be emancipated from the shackles of religion in terms of unders-tanding and interpretation. Nature should be contemplated without referring to metaphysical entities.4Thus, fiEnlightenmentfl aimed at freeing man from religion, theological and scholastic understandings of the church, traditional views and social criteria by means of touting his intellect as the essential means for his intellectual ventures. It was crucial to build a life based on intellect in all its aspects ranging from po – – sic paradigm of the modern era. Enlightenment is the name of a new paradigm shift, a break from the Chris -tian scholastic thought which dominated the European Continent. It studied the universe, the planet which man inhabits and many other values that are impor-tant to man himself, in a perspective solely founded on empirical evidence, ex – periment and intellect with no reference to metaphysical aspects. This approach claimed that an eternal development could be achieved and, thus, man would be happier with his material developments and achievements. This era, in other words, shows a paradigm shift, which evolved into secular worldview from a The 19 th 5; or fiEx – produced many social engineering projects under the same claim of building a metaphysical/theological answer to the question of the nature and relation of God, man, and the natural world that arose in the late medieval world as a result of a titanic struggle between contradictory elements within Christianity itself.fl au/, accessed on 26th (New York, NY: th ed) , accessed on: 11-05-2015.
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266heaven on earth. Their common goal was to make man happy, to establish a fair and peaceful order in the world, to advance humanity to abundance and welfare. However, many ideologies emerging under these notions created totalitarian re – – ple, they either destroyed or tried to control everything pertaining to religion. Of course there were other ideologies with moderate approaches. However, like their extremist counterparts, their common ground was their faith in secularism. barakah in their life. by the same token. However, post-modernity only acts as a philosophical thought – ences the period of modernity. the period mentioned above. Contrary to all its humanitarian statements, its con – of mass destruction, huge environmental problems and masses of individuals dis -integrated to their atoms in an ideological sense. The emergence of post-moder -nity was a reaction to this modern failure. -gets him.6 the world was a heaven. Instead we are talking about the history of man, who is – ever, our main assertion is that the main problem of the modern era is to detach existence and man from spirituality by striving to make his physicality as his and the fimodern manfl is a culmination of this process. The underlying and true meaning of this process unfolds itself in the relationship between man and his surroundings.6
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268and the blessed. This blessing could be in the form of speech or action. If it is in the former, it may be termed as benediction and in the later sense it is known as is the blesser He needs to be blessed Himself. It is in this meaning He is attrib -uted with barakah by the usage of a derivative of b-r-k , , meaning fithe fithe Blessedfl. Commenting on this reference on Ibn al-Qaiyyim says10:If the barakah – on whom His is attributed then he is blessed. It is due to this His Book which causes superabundance in the physical sphere and prosperity and happi – ness in the psychic orderfl11 to one whom He chooses out of His love in appreciation of servant™s obedience and submission to His will. This gift or bounty could be in many forms. It may be in the form of knowledge, wisdom, qualities, skills, wealth, health, or family. To barakah means abundance in every auspicious and good deed. 12 The in the following verses:10 nd edition, 1972), pp. 186-7.11, (New Edition, 1960).12 : 10/395.
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269Derivatives of barakah Area of Concern (41:10)Things (provisions) (7:137) (17:1) (21:71) (21:81) (34:18) (37:113) (27:8)Bush) (7:54)(23:14)(25:1) (25:10) (25:61) God (Creator of the Heaven)God (Creator of Constella-tions) (40:64)Zukhruf (43:85)God (Owner of all things) (55:78)God (Name) (67:1) (7:96)Hud (11:48) Hud (11:73) (6:92)(6:155) (21:50) (38:29) (3:96) (19:31)(23:29) (50:9)Thing (rain) (24:35) (24:61)Thing (tree) (28:30)
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270Thus the term barakah has been used to denote the blessings bestowed upon the people, their places and time or occasions, and even on things materi-als like water, olive, dates, cheese, cattle, horse, etc. also links barakah of the places to the prophets who lived there and spread the religion among those who inhabited them. It also states the fate of those revolted against the message, thus: (al- It can be proposed that barakah is the proliferation in quality and quantity of the things material or otherwise by God via unseen ways to man encompas -sing his multi-dimensional avocations. This can at times manifests itself through ) barakah , – ither harms nor helps, and had I not seen God™s messenger kiss you, I would not have kissed youfl. Thus, this divine blessing covers the entire aspects of a man™s Barakah barakah. He has outlined for us through his blessed life the occasions that attracts and dispels divine blessings. The collections have captured faithfully the – portance of this concept, which is valid both for quality and quantity of our con –
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271ducts and affairs pertaining to our total (meaning material and spiritual) lives. barakah that in a of anyone as (Elevated), Yas -ar (wealthy) and 13 Explaining this named as and when somebody looks for that person and asks fiIs -akah here?fl and they may answer saying fiNo, 14 Thus this the arbitrary usage of it even to name a person with it. In the following pages an barakah are: transaction have the right to accept or reject the deal as long as they have not parted or till they part. If they tell the truth and make everything clear to each other (e.g. described the defects and qualities of the goods), then their transaction is blessed. If they conceal anything and lie to each other, the blessing of their transaction will be eliminated.fl15 The above in business transactions to be honest and truthful. It is interesting to note that, the barakah for those who were truthful and honest in carrying barakah provides a guarantee of eventual success and reward for truthfulness and honesty, said: fiBeware of swearing, it produces a ready sale for a commodity, but obscures the barakah.fl16 but he warned that it removes the barakah of the transaction.1713 1415 st 3/273 hn. 3459.16 17 . nd edition, 1995), 9/132.
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