Are you tired of feeling like life is passing you by and there is no Barakah in Time?
Think about it! How often do you complain about time flying and wish you could do something about it? Well now you can with this life-changing e-book, Getting The Barakah 2nd Edition.
Introducing Abu Muawiyah’s #1 Best-Selling E-Book, Getting The Barakah 2nd Edition!
With this e-book, you will:
Learn a 6 step process for effective time management
Learn how to gain Barakah in your time
Discover dozens of effective and tested Time Management Tips
Over 150 pages of Time management tips and techniques
Don’t procrastinate! Begin your journey towards effective time management Now!
Don’t just take our word for it, here is what our readers are saying:
“Getting the Barakah is a personal narrative, which puts our deen at its forefront. Abu Muawiyah’s writing style is laconic and crisp, his tone is objective and emotional and his approach is simple and pragmatic enabling him to connect with his readers.” – Umm Bilal, Sisters’ Magazine
“Br. Kamdar’s book is full of specific ideas on how to control your time and accomplish your goals…I also love how his book reminds us to take care of ourselves and to even reward ourselves for our small victories! He also urges you to “invest in yourself” by learning new skill” – Sheima, Islamic Online University
“There aren’t many books in English aimed at helping Muslims with time management. Getting The Barakah changes that… this book is highly recommended for any Muslim who is looking for a way to improve his/her time management skill and to live a more fulfilling life.” – Shamsiyyah, The Ideal Muslimah
Purchase your copy of Getting The Barakah today and also receive 4 Time Management templates for free.
Click the ‘Buy Now‘ button below and purchase using your credit card/debit card or Paypal account and it will be emailed directly to you!
Don’t procrastinate! Begin your journey towards effective time management Now!
Barakah refers to blessings that Allah puts into our time, health, wealth, and other resources helping us get more out of these than we would have thought is possible. Many people complain about the lack of Barakah in their time, but that can be avoided. Here are 6 things you can do to earn some Barakah:
1. Establish the Five Daily Prayers
If you are not praying five time a day, you cannot expect Barakah in your time. Praying five times a day is the primary act of worship required from us as servants of Allah, and if we neglect this duty, we should not expect Barakah in other aspects of our lives.
2. Pray for Barakah
If you want Barakah is your time, then just like any other gift from Allah, you need to ask Allah for it. Ask Allah daily in your private duas for Barakah in your time, effort, wealth, health and efforts. A sincere dua does not go unheard.
3. Utilize the early morning hours
The last one third of the night and the early hours of the morning are times which are full of Barakah. Try it out one day, wake up for Tahajjud and then work on some of your most important tasks after Tahajjud and Fajr. You will notice that you will be able to get more done in less time due to the blessings that Allah has placed in this time.
4. Keep your earnings, spending, food and goals Halal
For any prayer to be answered, it must be made by someone who has not tainted his wealth or food with that which Allah has prohibited. Strive your best to earn Halal wealth, spend it properly, purchase only Halal food, and set noble goals. If you do so, you will earn Barakah from Allah.
5. Give a lot of Charity (Sadaqah)
Many of us know that the way to increase the Barakah in our wealth is to spend it on others. The same applies to our time. Volunteer your time for noble causes and you will find yourself with extra time to chase your goals. As the more wealth you give others, the more Allah gives you. Likewise, the more time you spend on others, the more Allah blesses your time.
“And remember when your Lord proclaimed, if you are grateful, I shall give you more, and if you are ungrateful then my punishment is severe,”[1]
This means that increase in anything is linked to how grateful we are to Allah for granting us that thing. So if we want Barakah in our time, we must be grateful to Allah for the time He has already blessed us with, instead of complaining about what we don’t have. The formula is simple and applies to any area of life: gratitude leads to increase, and complaints lead to decrease.
Q&A About Getting The Barakah Time Management eBook
The following questions were asked to Shaykh Ismail Kamdar, author of Getting The Barakah and founder of Islamic Self Help.
Q: How do you deal with writer’s block?
A: I set a daily time for writing (1 Hour) and force myself to write during that time whether I am in the mood to write or not. If I have writer’s block on a specific topic, I write about something else.
Alternatively, I make a mind-map about the topic and it helps stimulate my thoughts and generate more content to write about.
Q: What’s the best thing about being a writer?
A: The best part about being an author is being able to do what I love most (writing) in a way that benefits people. Anytime love for something meets benefit for society, you have a Win/Win situation, and that is what writing is for me, I win by doing what I love and the readers win by getting something interesting to read.
Q: What’s your advice for aspiring writers?
A: Have a clear goal and vision, know why you are writing and what you hope to accomplish through writing and make sure everything you write is working towards that goal.
For me the goal is simple: to make this world a better place than I found it, and I believe inspirational writings go a long way towards reforming the world.
If you are serious about writing a book, then hold yourself responsible to do so. Make time daily to write, set clear deadlines and stick to them. It is very easy to get distracted by the internet and many other things, so having clear goals, dedicated time and a set deadline keeps us on track.
Q: What are you currently working on?
A: I have a book on Self-Confidence coming out in July 2015, inshaa Allah.
After that, I am working on two more Self-help books, a couple of fictional novels and a long series of Islamic books. I hope to publish at least 10 more books over the next four years, inshaa Allah.
Q: How do you get inspired to write?
A: Anytime I find a problem in society, my mind races to find solutions. Those solutions form the basis for any book or article I write.
In short, people’s problems are my inspirations since I want to help solve them.
Q: Where did you get the title for your latest book “Getting The Barakah” from?
A: I was struggling to come up with a decent title for the book for a long time. I tried brainstorming, mind-mapping, writing anything that comes to mind, but nothing really good came to my mind. Then one morning, Alhamdulillah, while exercising the title literally popped into my head and I ran back to my PC, wrote it down and realized that’s the title I was looking for!
Q: Why write a book on time management when there are so many other issues that Muslims need to talk about?
A: Islam teaches us to value time and make the best usage of our time. Yet, many Muslims are late for everything and rushing around complaining that they don’t have time to get things done. This book was written to help people make time for what is important including Salah and reciting Qur’an and to utilize their time productively. This is something that I believe every Muslim can benefit from in both worlds.
If you have any questions regarding the book, ask below in the comments section.
Getting The Barakah is currently available for purchase here.
The following is an extract from my book Getting The Barakah An Islamic Guide to Time Management, now available for download!
Common Distractions and their dangers
The Email Trap
Schedule specific times of the day for checking emails and social media and for receiving and making phone calls.
Many of us make the mistake of checking our phones, PDAs or PCs at every notification. We want to read every email as soon as we receive it and this is multiplied if you have multiple inboxes and accounts.
There are two major problems that come from this. The first is that it can literally take up your entire day. Every time you are settling into a task, you receive a notification and feel the need to check it out and often reply to it. If you add up the amount of minutes you spend doing this daily, it is literally hours.
The solution is to regulate your communication work into batches. By setting specific times of the day to check each inbox, you will save time in multiple ways:
You will be looking at all of the emails at one time so it does not interrupt other work, and that helps increase the quality of the other work.
You can answer each email faster as it is the task you are focused on in the moment
If multiple emails require similar responses, you can utilize the copy/paste function to save even more time.
It is equally important to decide what time of the days you check your email. A common mistake we make is to check our email at the start of the day. The problem with this is that it dulls the mind as answering email can be a very boring part of your job, and doing so makes it difficult to revive your mental faculties for more creative work later.
Furthermore, if any email contains information that is going to stress you out or affect your mood, it is now going to affect your entire day.
A recent study shows that many of the most efficient people in the world only check their emails around midday. This allows them to get all of their most creative and important work done in the early mornings while their minds are still fresh, and all their emails get answered anyway but without affecting the rest of the workload.
So there are essential two ways to optimize email work:
Work in batches
Answer emails late in the day
The Phone Trap
In addition to emails, today are SMSs, phone calls, voicemail, regular mail, social media notifications, etc. You need to resist the urge to take a call or check your phone at every notification. Instead, close all social media sites and switch your phone to silent while working on important projects. Then check your phone and social media for five minutes every hour.
You will notice that the world did not come to an end in those 55 minutes that you were offline. Instead, you able to get quality work done, and still have enough time to respond to all notifications during those five-minute intervals.
You can also use other methods to get around this. If you can afford to, hire a secretary to take your phone calls and give you a list of phone calls that you need to return at the end of the day. You can also activate Voicemail and just check your voicemail every few hours to find out which calls need to be returned.
Furthermore, when taking a call, do not lose track of time or get lost in unnecessary conversations. Inform the other person that you have five minutes to speak (or whatever you feel is right for that specific call) and then you need to get back to work. This will encourage them to summarize what they need to discuss and will save you a lot of valuable time that is wasted in unnecessary discussion.
Personally, I try to limit conversations by informing people that my preferred medium of communication is email and that they are more likely to get a detailed response to an email, than with a phone call. This way, once people understand this, the number of phone calls you receive is reduced and you will deal with more emails instead. This is actually better, as emails are usually to be point and do not include the amount of unnecessary conversation you will have to deal with during a phone call.
Extract from Getting The Barakah An Islamic Guide to time management, pp. 77-80
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Verily, actions are judged by their intentions, and everyone will have only what they intended.”[1]
We begin with the quality of ikhlāṣ because there really is no point to dawah if it is devoid of ikhlāṣ. Instead of working in your favour, it will work against you. The Prophet ﷺ warned against teaching Islam for show in the famous hadith about the first three types of people who will enter the Hellfire.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The first of men whose case will be decided on the Day of Judgment will be a man who died as a martyr. He shall be brought forward. Allah will make him recount His blessings and he will recount them.
Allah will say: What did you do? He will say: I fought for You until I died as a martyr.
Allah will say: You have told a lie. You fought that you might be called a” brave warrior”. And you were called so.
Orders will be passed against him, and he will be dragged with his face downward and cast into Hell. Then a man will be brought forward who acquired knowledge and imparted it and recited the Qur’an. He will be brought, and Allah will make him recount His blessings and he will recount them. Then will Allah ask: What did you do?
He will say: I acquired knowledge and disseminated it and recited the Qur’an seeking Your pleasure.
Allah will say: You have told a lie. You acquired knowledge so that you might be called” a scholar,” and you recited the Qur’an so that it might be said: “He is a Reciter” and such has been said.
Then orders will be passed against him, and he shall be dragged with his face downward and cast into the Fire. Then a man will be brought whom Allah had made abundantly rich and had granted every kind of wealth. He will be brought, and Allah will make him recount His blessings and he will recount them. Allah will ask: What have you done?
He will say: I spent money in every cause in which You wished that it should be spent.
Allah will say: You are lying. You did it that it might be said “He is a generous fellow” and so it was said.
Then will Allah pass orders and he will be dragged with his face downward and thrown into Hell.”[2]
This makes ikhlāṣ the single most important thing to any Islamic preacher. Devoid of ikhlāṣ, a scholar or preacher is simply calling to himself, preaching for fame, and building his own home in the Hellfire. All success therefore depends on ikhlāṣ.
Ikhlāṣ linguistically means sincerity. In Islam, it refers to the concept of doing good deeds for the pleasure of Allah. It must be made clear that dawah is an act of worship. It is not a hobby, a career, a business deal, or a personal pursuit.
It is a legislated act of worship that must be done in accordance with the laws of Islam for the pleasure of Allah. Like any other good deed, dawah with ikhlāṣ is not only devoid of reward, but rather it becomes a sinful act that counts against the individual on the Last Day.
Dr Osman Latiff says about sincerity:
Sincerity is the essence of all we do. Without it, things are futile. An underlying premise of our testimony of faith is to testify with sincerity. Everything that follows, speech and action are performed with a conscious heart and mind. It is for Him that we do, and for Him too that we refrain from doing.[3]
One-Third of the Religion
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Verily, actions are judged by their intentions, and everyone will have only what they intended. Whoever emigrated for Allah and His Messenger, his emigration is for Allah and His Messenger. Whoever emigrated to get something in the world or to marry a woman, his emigration is for that to which he emigrated.”[4]
This hadith forms of the foundation of Islamic ethics. One-third of our religion revolves around intentions, and that includes the validity of one’s dawah. The opposite of sincerity is riyā (showing off) which is a minor form of shirk and a major sin. The Prophet ﷺ warned against riyā in many hadiths.
In the field of dawah, the struggle with our intentions is our biggest jihad. Especially in modern times, there are too many competing factors trying to distract us from being focused on pleasing Allah. The rise of the internet and social media has made it easier than ever for a preacher to forget their purpose. It is too easy to become famous, wealthy, and popular through preaching online, and while these are not prohibited as results, they are prohibited as intentions.
By this, I mean that if someone does dawah for the pleasure of Allah, and Allah makes that person popular or wealthy through it, then this is both a gift and a test from Allah. It is a gift in that it can be a sign of acceptance in this world and part of their reward. It is also a test in that it could lead to corruption of intentions or falling into temptation.
Wealth and fame are not the problem, it is the intention in the heart that matters. As long as dawah is done solely for the pleasure of Allah, it is rewardable and blessed. Once intentions are corrupted, then it becomes a force of destruction and a source of sin.
Many problems in the dawah scene today relate directly to intentions. Many preachers use the religion as a means of self-promotion and become obsessed with working with the algorithm to promote their own content and ideas. This over time becomes a form of self-worship in which Allah is forgotten and everything becomes about one’s own ego and fame.
Incorrect intentions works against a preacher, whether they are successful or not. If successful, they grow in their ego and self-importance and forget Allah. If they fail, they become bitter and jealous at those who have more followers and support than them and may fall into sabotage against more popular preachers. Either way, it is ugly and a source of many problems today.
Struggling with Ikhlāṣ
The Prophet ﷺ said, “Verily, what I fear most for you after me is ostentation and hidden lusts,”[5]
The Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever seeks knowledge that should be sought for the sake of Allah Almighty, but only to gain some worldly benefit, he will never know the fragrance Paradise on the Day of Resurrection.”[6]
The reality is that every caller will struggle with intentions many times. In fact, we all may stray in our intentions from time to time. However, with self-reflection and sincere counsel, we can always find our way back to Allah and renew our sincerity. The real danger lies in not even realizing that one’s intentions have been corrupted.
The opposite of ikhlāṣ is riyā (showing off). There are many ways to fall into riyā. I want to focus on five traps of the devil that lead to riyā. Over the years, I have found these five trials to be the most common and biggest trials regarding intentions. These five traps are fame, jealousy, greed, lust, and ego.
Fame is the most common trap used to mislead people. When one’s intention becomes gaining followers, increasing reach, and becoming more popular than others, then one has strayed. This does not mean that fame is itself a bad thing. If Allah makes someone famous, they must use that fame to benefit the religion, but fame should not be the goal. The goal should always be the pleasure of Allah.
If the devil cannot trick someone into pursuing fame, he may trick them into becoming jealous and bitter at those who are more famous than him. This jealousy consumes the caller and becomes his primarily focus. When consumed by jealousy, one forgets about the pleasure of Allah, and focuses on the downfall of others. This leads to an obsession with refutations, slander and takedowns, instead of focusing on doing work that is pleasing to Allah.
Another way in which the devil may mislead us is through greed for wealth. There is a fine line to walk here because I believe preachers should be financially independent, especially in modernity. However, in pursuing financial freedom, we must be careful of becoming greedy and obsessed with wealth. Money should be seen as a tool for dawah, not the goal of dawah.
The devil may also try to misguide you true lust and temptation from the opposite gender. When beginning one’s journey of knowledge, many people may not realize that they will be tried in this manner. Yet I have seen so many potentially great preachers fall from grace because of giving in to temptation. Do not underestimate the power of lust. Shield yourself from it by keeping a distance from the opposite gender, getting married young, and renewing your intentions regularly.
Finally, the devil may try to mislead you through self-amazement (ʿujb) by playing with your ego. Many preachers are gifted with amazing intellect, skills, and knowledge. If they do not work on remaining humble, they may become egotistical. When the ego takes over, the dawah stops being about Allah and becomes about oneself. Often cults and new sect begin when a preacher thinks he is better than everyone else, leading to him starting his own version of the religion. We seek Allah’s protection from all these trials.
The Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever seeks knowledge to impress the scholars, to argue with the foolish, or to attract the attention of people, Allah will admit him into Hellfire.”[7]
Benefits of Ikhlāṣ
Ikhlāṣ keeps one grounded regardless of worldly success. A true believer knows that his job is simply to convey the message in the best way possible, and that guidance is in Allah’s Control. Allah guides those who deserve guidance, and our role is simply to be a means through which the message reaches people.
Therefore, worldly results are inconsequential and do not define success. Success is measured by two methods only; did you convey the message properly and did you do it for the sake of Allah? Everything else is outside one’s control.
With this mindset, a believer can remain grounded and focused regardless of whether people listen to him or not. If he remains unknown and unpopular, he continues to do his work for the sake of Allah, expecting his reward in the Afterlife. If he grows famous, he remains committed to Allah and does not allow fame to change him. His sincerity is his shield against both corruption and quitting.
Sincerity brings added value to the dawah as well. It produces barakah[8] in the dawah that cannot be explained in worldly terms. When dawah is done solely for the pleasure of Allah, this effort becomes blessed, and the blessings manifest in different ways.
Sometimes, a small dawah effort can be the means of guidance for millions of people. Other times, it can be a means of purification and improvement for the preacher himself. Sometimes, just one person may accept the message, but that person becomes a great asset to the ummah. All these are from the blessings of sincere dawah.
To maintain sincerity, check your intentions regularly, make dua for sincerity, accept sincere advice, have righteous friends that keep you in check, and ensure that you have a lot of secret good deeds to make up for any slip-ups regarding your intentions for your public deeds.
Learn more with our in-depth ebook + video series, available here.
[8] Barakah literally means blessings. In Islamic theology, it refers to the concept of something providing value beyond what is expected in an almost supernatural manner.
