BISMILLAH IR-RAHMAN IR-RAHIM ​ ​ ​ ​ ALLAHUMMA SOLLI ‘ALA SAYYIDINA ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ WA ‘ALA ALIHI WA SOHBIHI WA SALLIM ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

MODULE 04 LESSON 03 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ How To Increase The Barakah of Your Time + Health + Wealth

(00:13) Assalammualaikum ladies!!!! OMG IT’S OUR 18THHHHH DATE MA SHA - WE ARE TWO DATES AWAY FROM OUR “CONSISTENCY MARRIAGE”! I don’t know how to feel knowing that the end is so near, but I don’t want to think about that now because today, I’m so excited to share with you on one of the most interesting concepts in our Deen, which is “Barakah” and how we can increase the Barakah in our time, health and wealth!

But before I proceed to talk about it in-depth, I just want to quickly define what is Barakah. According to a scholar by the name of al-Isfahani, Barakah is a term that means an ​ “increase” and “growth”. It is the presence of divine goodness in something; and it cannot be outwardly quantified, nor is it limited by anything. Something with barakah has an unexplainable increase and benefit in it from Allah. ​ ​

So for example, having more barakah in your time does not mean you will have more than 24 hours in your day but rather, within that 24 hours, you can do an amazing number of things productively and efficiently. Or having more barakah in one’s wealth does not mean the dollar amount increases - rather, the benefits seen from that limited amount are limitless, and that dollar can actually reach further and last longer.

(01:38) It is believed that in order to attain Barakah in anything, one must consistently strive to do good, and stay away from anything bad or impure. Therefore the amount of Barakah one can have, can increase and decrease depending on the good and bad actions one does. Personally, I’m a firm believer that Barakah can be attained when we are consistent in doing good, no matter how small the deed is, and today I’ll share with you some of the simple things that you can start doing in order to increase Barakah in your time, health and wealth which is the three biggest blessings that I feel Allah SWT can bestow upon us, after Guidance.

Alright, let’s start with how to increase the barakah in your time!

(02:23) We all know how protecting our time is important, so much so that Allah SWT swears by time in the , and whatever that Allah swears by is extremely important. I’ll now share with you 5 simple things that I’ve tried to consistently do and when I’m successful at doing any or all of these 5 things, I’m a more productive and am able to fulfill my obligations as a believer, as a wife, as a daughter, and also as a leader in my team within my 24 hours.

1) Join the 5 AM Club - i.e. wake up early. We’ve gone through many times throughout the #AAConsistencyClass on how beneficial and important it is to wake up early. It’s funny how when I read about all these successful entrepreneurs in the West attributing their success to waking up super early and being productive and being in the “5 AM Club”, I realised that OMG - that is one of the Sunnah of Rasulullah SAW! Our Prophet SAW made waking up cool first! So yeah, if you want to add barakah to your time, get to bed early and wake up early, before the rest of the world rises! We all know the famous where Rasulullah SAW said, “The ​ ​ early hours are blessed for my nation” [Tirmidhi] meaning there is so much barakah and ​ ​ goodness in these early hours!

2) Watch what you do outside your 5 daily prayers We’ve talked about how we can schedule our day within the 5 daily prayers, but I’ve also realised that in order to have barakah in our time, we need to not only be careful with taking care of our 5 daily prayers, but also to be mindful of what we do outside of our 5 daily prayers. We all wonder why we don’t have Khusyuk in our prayers. Well , if we are listening to Music instead of the Quran, or if we are watching Netflix and Korean Dramas instead of listening to a beneficial lecture, or if we are gossiping and being on Social Media instead of doing beneficial work, then why are we wondering that there is no Barakah in our time, and can’t have Khusyuk in our prayers? (PS: This is a stern reminder first and foremost to myself because I fall short of this so many times too! May Allah protect us and protect our time Amin! ) We can’t expect our soul to auto-switch to being an during our 5 daily prayers if we have been feeding our souls with nonsense outside of it. I remember reading a super powerful quote by Ibn Qayyim where he said, “Wasting time is worse than death because death separates you from this ​ world whereas wasting time separates you from Allah.” So be mindful of what we ​ ​ spend our time on so that we can increase the Barakah in our lives and also to remain close to Allah!

3) Carry out your day to day activities with Ikhsan Every single one of our daily activities can be an opportunity for us to worship Allah, and therefore we should give our 100% whenever we carry out a task. We should do things with Ihsan, with the remembrance that although we cannot see Allah, Allah SWT sees all that we do. Going to work and giving your all is a form of ibadah, taking care of your children is an ibadah, cleaning the home and cooking for the family is an ibadah, studying diligently is an ibadah - everything can be a form of worship and we should to these activities with Ihsan and when we sincerely give our all in everything that we do, In Sha Allah, He will pour Barakah into our time. We need to remember that sometimes, it is not about the number of things that we can do in a day. But rather, the quality of the deeds that we do is what matters.

4) Consistently read this daily Rasulullah SAW always recite the following dua and I read it daily because it asks for protection from 8 things that stops us from being Consistent and Productive with our time. The Dua goes like this:

ﱠ ﱢ َ ُ َ ْ ْ ْ ْ ْ َْ ْ ْ ْ َ َ ﱠ َ َ اﻟﻠُﻬﱠﻢ ِإﻧﻲ أ ُﻋﻮذ ِﺑﻚ ِﻣﻦ اﻟَﻬﱢﻢ َواﻟ ُﺤﺰ ِن َواﻟَﻌ ْﺠ ِﺰ َواﻟﻜ َﺴ ِﻞ َواﻟﺒُﺨ ِﻞ َواﻟ ُﺠْﺒ ِﻦ َوﺿﻠِﻊ اﻟﺪْﯾ ِﻦ َوﻏﻠَﺒِﺔ اﻟ ﱢﺮ َﺟﺎ ِل

It means, ‘O Allaah, I seek refuge in You, from anxiety and sorrow, weakness and laziness, miserliness and cowardice, the burden of debts and from being over-powered by men.’

If we look at all of the 8 elements that the Dua above is asking Allah for protection from - anxiety, sorrow, weakness, laziness, miserliness, cowardice, the burden of debts and from being over-powered by men; we would realise that all of them are actually anti-Productivity elements. If we successfully remove them from our lives, we can move forward much quicker and be more productive. So try to consistently read this at the start of your day, and In Sha Allah, Allah will put barakah to your time and eradicate laziness, weakness, sorrow and all of the other bad vibes.

5) And lastly, something that I love to do - is reciting the Fatimiyyah with Yakeen. I’ve shared the Story behind Tasbih Fatimiyyah in one of my Vlogs and reciting it has made an incredible difference in my life and in my time, . Tasbih Fatimiyyah is essentially reciting “SubhanAllah” 33 times, “Alhamdulillah” 33 times and Allahuakhbar 34 times. The backstory of this was that the beloved daughter of Rasulullah SAW, Sayyida Fatima RA was seeking assistance or a helper from Rasulullah SAW as she was feeling extremely tired from working super hard everyday. She is always in a state of constant toiling, and she RA would clean, cook and care for her children among many, many other things, MashaAllah. One day, when Sayyidina RA, the husband of Sayyidah Fatima RA, saw how his wife had become so fatigued and exhausted, he suggested to ask her father, Rasulullah SAW for help. But Rasulullah SAW denied their request, and instead advised them to recite Tasbih Fatimiyyah instead because Rasulullah SAW said that reciting the Zikir is better than what they have come to asked ​ ​ from him. So whenever I feel like I’m exhausted or pressed for time like I’m running out of time and need help - I will recite Tasbih Fatimiyyah with full Yaqeen, and Ma Sha Allah, my affairs will always be eased, Alhamdulillah.

So those are the 5 things you can do to try to add Barakah to your time - 1) join the 5AM Club i.e. wake up early, 2) watch what you do outside of your 5 daily prayers. 3) do everything with Ihsan, 4) consistently read the dua that Rasulullah SAW practiced and 5) reciting Tasbih Fatimiyyah with Yakeen.

(09:13) Now, moving on to Health - how do we add Barakah to our health so that we can use our limbs to always worship Allah SWT and consistently do good? With health, I realised that it’s all about the food that we eat and consume. Allah SWT says in the Quran, in ​ al-Baqarah “Eat of what is lawful and wholesome on the earth.” (Quran 2:168) This is so ​ ​ ​ important to remember because what we feed our bodies directly connects to our spirituality too. So here’s 3 simple things you can do to add more barakah to your Health, vis-a-vis the food that you eat.

1) As much as possible, cook your own food and know its sources Rasulullah SAW said, “No one has ever eaten better food than what he eats from the work done by his hands” (Bukhari) - I see this Hadith in two ways: 1) that it is a lot better to cook our own food with our own hands - because we will know exactly how the food was being made, and we know exactly what goes into the meal. And 2) the money used to purchase the food should be from the money we earn through our halal and ethical hard work. This hadith reminded me of what my mom always reminded me to do which is to minimise eating outside, because the food that is made in our own kitchen is always better. She also taught me to recite Selawat when preparing the meals so that In Sha Allah, the food that we eat will always have Barakah.

Also, something that I feel is incredibly important is to not just make sure the food we eat is Halal, but it also must be Thoyyib, meaning your food should also be wholesome, and coming from a pure and ethical sources. I have a friend who only buys her meat from a Butcher whom she knows allows his livestock to roam free and who protects their rights. It’s free range and organic and the animals were not injected with hormones or harmful chemicals. So whenever possible, be mindful of where our food is coming from, and always try to cook our own food with our own hands.

2) Eat together Rasulullah SAW said: “Eat together, for there is barakah and blessings in Jamma’a (being in congregation or being together)…” (Ibn Majah) And it’s so true - food always tastes better when you eat together. ​Something that I always find incredibly fascinating is ​ that food is always enough when you invite someone else to eat together with you. Rasulullah SAW said this in another Hadith: “Whoever has food enough for two people, should invite a third one, and whoever has food enough for four people, invite a fifth, and so on and so forth.” (Bukhari) That’s Barakah in action right there because although you thought you only prepared food for 2, there will always be enough for a third. Subhan’Allah.

3) Ration your portion so you never waste food When Rasulullah SAW eats, he used to lick his three fingers, and Rasulullah SAW would tell his companions to finish all the food in their bowl because Rasulullah SAW said, “You do not know in which part of your food is the Baraka.” (Muslim) This meant that for us to attain Barakah in our food, we have to finish our food and not waste any, and the only way we can do this consistently is to ration the portion of our food well. Rasulullah SAW taught us exactly how to do this when he said “Nothing is worse than a person who fills his stomach. It should be just enough for the son of to have a few bites to satisfy his hunger. If he wishes more, it should just be: One-third for his food, one-third for his liquids, and one-third for his breath.” (Tirmidhi & Ibn Majah) So ladies, before we pile on that second serving, let’s think about this so that we can have more Barakah in our Health In Sha Allah.

And of course, it goes without saying, to follow the Sunnah of Rasulullah SAW when it comes to eating, to add your Barakah which is to recite Bismillah, to eat with your right hand, to thank Allah for the Rezki, to chew 40 times before swallowing and to try to fast Mondays and Thursdays or the 13th, 14th, and 15th day of each month of the . Again, you don’t have to overwhelm yourself by doing allll of these; just do what is easiest for you, as long as you are….. C O N S I S T E N T.

(13:23) And finally, wealth! How do we add barakah to our wealth?

I know a good friend of mine who told me “everyone wants more money, Aida, but I don’t because I fear that it will be a test against me. I just want Allah’s barakah in my money.” That impacted me a ​ ​ lot! When it comes to Money, more does not always equate to having more Happiness, and I see this a lot in Morocco because people who don’t earn a lot are extremely content and happy, as opposed to people who have a much higher salary but always feel that it’s never enough. I pondered on this further and here are 5 very simple things that you can do to have more Barakah in your wealth. In Sha Allah.

1) Practice giving to charity, no matter how small, consistently. In a Hadith Qudsi, Allah says: “O son of Adam, spend (in charity), and I will spend on you!” The quickest way of gaining Barakah in your life would be through giving charity. I have a friend who would consistently give $10 to her local neighbourhood Masjid, every payday. She has been doing it for years, and she believes that this small act of charity is what has allowed her to send herself and her parents for Ma Sha Allah! Remember, it’s not so much about the amount, but the Consistency and the Sincerity within the giving that’s important. Rasulullah SAW also said “Charity does not reduce wealth.” (Muslim) Meaning, even though the physical amount outwardly decreases, but the remaining amount attracts so much barakah that you will actually be gaining a lot more.

2) Be mindful on how you are earning your source of income Ask yourself, are you earning a lawful Halal and wholesome income? Ensure that your line of work does not go against the Sharia’ and that your wealth is lawful. This not only includes what work you do, but who you work for and their source of income as well. Ensure that your work is ethical and moral. And equally important - make sure you work with excellence, loyalty and honesty. Do not take a single penny except that you duly deserve it. Make sure you are punctual for work, and that you don’t skive on your i.e. you don’t spend your time outside your break to check social media, or that you don’t use office supplies without asking permission etc etc. Be loyal and honest at work. Nothing reduces barakah like dishonesty and cheating or having unethical practices.

3) Recite Surah Waqiah Rasulullay SAW said, “whoever reads Surah al-Waqiah every night, he won’t go through difficulty or poverty” (Baihaqi from Ibnu Masud RA). I honestly stand by this and even if I can’t afford to recite Surah Waqiah because I feel like I don’t have time, the least I would do is to play it every morning before the start of my day. On top of reading Surah Waqiah, consistently recite the Quran because it is also an amazing practice to increase Barakah. Rasulullah SAW said, “Indeed, the house in which the Qur’an is recited - the goodness [in it] also increases…” and in another version, “things are made easier for its family.” [Ibn Kathir, Tafsir]

4) Moisten your tongue with Alhamdulillah The easiest way to increase the Barakah in our lives is to give thanks for what you have been given. Allah SWT says in the Qur’an, “And if you give thanks [to Me, for what I have bestowed on you], I shall surely increase you.” [14:7] So practice gratitude and thank Allah with your ​ ​ tongue, your heart, by using His blessings for good purposes, and by obeying and worshipping Him. Other ways you can practise gratitude is to create your own Gratitude Girl Gang, you can add the Zikir of “Alhamdulillah” after every prayer, you can have your own Gratitude Journal - do anything, as long as you are always moistening your tongues with Alhamdulillah!

5) Praying the Dhuha Prayer Rasulullah SAW said: “In the morning, every single joint of yours must pay a sadaqah (charity). Every SubhanAllah is a sadaqah, every Alhamdulillāh is a sadaqah, every La Ilaha Illa Allah is a sadaqah and every Allahu Akbar is a sadaqah, every commanding good is a sadaqah, and every forbidding evil is a sadaqah, and all of this is accomplished through two rakʿahs one can pray during the Dhuha [prayer]. (Muslim) This Hadith emphasises the virtue of the Dhuha prayer, a two rakʿahs prayer that is sufficient as a charity on behalf of every joint in your body, and as a sign of genuine gratitude to Allah. By now, we all know how charity and being grateful both increases our Barakah, so imagine if we pray Dhuha consistently, we are doing both i.e. giving charity and being grateful. So just imagine how much our Barakah is being multiplied.

(18:10) Ladies, I have come to the end of my list but I have to stress that at the end of the day, the one most important thing that we all have to try to remember is that these are only means or worldly causes that we can try to put forth with our human efforts, but the only One who can bestow blessings and gives Barakah in the first place is Allah SWT. So rely on Him and ask from Him for everything. Rely on Him for your Consistency journey. Ask from Him for your Barakah, just like how Rasulullah SAW would advise us. He SAW said: “If only you relied on ​ Allah with 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. (Tirmidhi) I’ve always loved this Hadith Ma Sha Allah. So yeah, always have Tawakkul to Allah. ​

And before I wrap today’s date, here’s your Heartwork for Module 4.3: Which of the three areas of your life - time, health or wealth - would you like to increase Barakah in? And which one of the tips that I’ve shared earlier will you be able to inculcate in your life, and that you will be able to put into practice, consistently?

I really can’t wait to read your answers so please do share them with me on our secret Facebook Group or email me at [email protected] - I’d love to hear from you and with that, give yourself a huge high 5 coz we are donnnneeeee!

Love love, see you tomorrow!