Barakah
{{short description|Blessing power in Islam}}
{{about|blessing power in Islam|other uses|Baraka (disambiguation)}}
In Islam, Barakah or Baraka ({{langx|ar|بركة}} "blessing") is a blessing power,{{harvnb|Schimmel|1994|pp=xiv}} a kind of continuity of spiritual presence and revelation that begins with God and flows through that and those closest to God.{{cite book|last1=Nasr|first1=Seyyed Hossein|author-link=Seyyed Hossein Nasr|title=Sufi Essays|date=1972|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany|isbn=0873952332|pages=35–36|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BMNQNOHXKOMC}}
The Quran is said to be charged with barakah, and God can bestow prophets and saints with barakah. Especially Muhammad and his descendants are said to be especially endowed with it. These special people can transfer their barakah to ordinary people, both while being dead or alive.Colin, G.S. (2012). Baraka. In P. Bearman (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition Online (EI-2 English). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_1216
Sacred places are said to contain barakah and ward off evil spiritual forces, thus monasteries and Sufi temples are often visited for protection against demonic beings.Pantić, Nikola. Sufism in Ottoman Damascus: Religion, Magic, and the Eighteenth-century Networks of the Holy. Taylor & Francis, 2023.
As a blessing force, barakah is also a force of creation and fertility, causing cereals to miraculously multiply.Colin, G.S. (2012). Baraka. In P. Bearman (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition Online (EI-2 English). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_1216
See also
References
{{reflist}}
=Works cited=
- {{Cite book| last=Schimmel | first=Annemarie | author-link=Annemarie Schimmel | title=Deciphering the Signs of God: A Phenomenological Approach to Islam | publisher=State University of New York Press | year=1994 | url=https://www.giffordlectures.org/books/deciphering-signs-god-phenomenological-approach-islam | isbn=978-0791419823 }}
=General references=
- Coulon, C., et al. (1988). Charisma and Brotherhood in African Islam. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-822723-X}}.
- Meri, J.W. (1999) [https://www.academia.edu/805330/Aspects_of_Baraka_Blessings_and_Ritual_Devotion_Among_Medieval_Muslims_and_Jews Aspects of Baraka (Blessings) and Ritual Devotion among Medieval Muslims and Jews]. Medieval Encounters. 5, pp. 46–69.
- Takim, L. N. (2006). [https://books.google.com/books?id=4nWa8y-HiB0C The Heirs of the Prophet: Charisma And Religious Authority in Shi'ite Islam]. SUNY Press. {{ISBN|0791481913}}.
- Werbner, P., et al. (1998). [https://books.google.com/books?id=17iGAgAAQBAJ Embodying Charisma: Modernity, Locality and Performance of Emotion in Sufi Cults]. Routledge. {{ISBN|1134746938}}.
{{Sufism terminology}}
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