🛡️ The Barakah You Never Saw

4th RabiʻI 1447H

Assalamu'alaikum,

I'm writing this from a tire shop in Dallas.

This morning, I walked in expecting to pay $300 for a new tire. Alhamdulillah, the technician said it's covered under warranty. Free repair. Phew! 😮‍💨

As I sit here waiting, I can't help but think about my thoughts driving here: "Here we go again, another unexpected expense that's going to hurt..."

Instead of making dua and asking Allah ﷻ for provision, I was mentally calculating how this would mess up my budget.

But Allah ﷻ provided, unexpectedly.

The Barakah We Never Count

Allah ﷻ didn't give me $300. He saved me from losing $300.

Most of the time, we think about Allah's provision in terms of addition: the job offer, the surprise money, the new opportunity, the extra income.

What if Allah's greatest provision comes through protection?

What if Barakah isn't always about what comes in, but what doesn't go out?

The warranty I forgot. The near-accident. The illness I was exposed to but didn't catch. The seemingly good investment that would have been a disaster. The honest store clerk who didn't charge me extra.

How many times has Allah ﷻ provided for you by preventing an unknown loss?

Our Gratitude Blind Spot

We're trained to notice what gets added to our lives, but we're blind to what gets subtracted from our potential problems.

It reminds me of Khidr's actions in Surat Al-Kahf. When he rebuilt the wall protecting the orphans' treasure, it looked like unnecessary charity work to Musa (peace be upon him). But Allah ﷻ was preventing the treasure from being discovered by the greedy townspeople. What appeared to be simple construction was actually divine protection in disguise.

Our Invisible Provision

The Quran says:

وَءَاتَىٰكُم مِّن كُلِّ مَا سَأَلْتُمُوهُ ۚ وَإِن تَعُدُّوا۟ نِعْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَآ ۗ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ لَظَلُومٌۭ كَفَّارٌۭ 

And He has granted you all that you asked Him for. If you tried to count Allah’s blessings, you would never be able to number them. Indeed humankind is truly unfair, ˹totally˺ ungrateful. (Quran 14:34)

I used to think this verse was about obvious blessings: health, family, sustenance. But what if the blessings we couldn’t number include all the problems Allah prevented?

What if your biggest blessing today wasn't the opportunity that came, but the disaster that Allah quietly redirected away from your path?

Once you start looking for this invisible provision, you'll see it everywhere.

Being Grateful for “Negative” Barakah

Most of us have mastered gratitude for what we receive. Some of us learned to be grateful for what’s taken (like seeing wisdom in loss). But few of us have developed gratitude for what we’ve been protected from.

Today, sit down and think of all the things that Allah protected you from that could have happened to you.

Even if you’re going through a difficulty, such as having to pay $300 for a tire, perhaps there’s a bigger difficulty Allah saved you from, like a total accident that would have totaled your car and would have cost you so much more.

When you realize that Allah is constantly providing protection, your anxiety about the future diminishes. You start trusting that just as He's prevented a thousand problems you never saw coming, He'll continue to shield you from challenges you cannot predict.

You become forever Grateful, you become forever His slave.

Tonight, before you make dua for what you want to receive in life, try making dua in gratitude for what you've been protected from.

You might be surprised by how abundant your life already is.

Sincerely,

P.S.1. This perspective on Barakah and more is what we discuss in our upcoming mindset-shifting program, The Barakah Effect, that starts next week. If this resonates with how you want to approach life, speak with our team about how to register for the program.

P.S. 2. This Saturday, my team is hosting a free webinar on how faith-based professionals like you are shifting from burnout and hustle culture to barakah culture. They’ll cover more details about the Barakah Effect program as well. Join the webinar for free here.