Al-Barr
The Source of All Goodness
Exalted and Glorious
Verily, We used to invoke Him (Alone and none else) before. Verily, He is al-Barr (the Most Subtle, Kind, Courteous, and Generous), the Most Merciful. (52:28)
This attribute of Allah in its ordinary sense means pious or good. As applied to Allah it means the Beneficent One Who is tolerant toward His servants, toward all creatures and is good to them.
He who repeats this name over a child, this child will be free from misfortune. Parents who lose a child very young should not despair, for Allah, the Exalted, in all His kindness and mercy shall bless them with children who survive if they profusely recite this sacred name.
Al-Barr, the Beneficent Who is favorably disposed towards His slaves through His blamelessness and His subtlety. He is Gracious to those who ask of Him for His beautiful bestowing. He is the Truthful One in what He promises. So let us ask Allah for His blamelessness and His subtlety that in His good pleasure He may accept us.
Allah Allah Allah
From: The Meanings of the Names of Our Lord by Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal ar-Rifa’i Head of the Higher Sufi Council in Jerusalem and the Holy Land Teacher at the Dome of the Rock (al-Aqsa)
AL-BARR
Allah is the perfect Doer of Good. All good and bounty comes from Him. He loves for His servants only good, comfort, and ease. He does not like hardships for them, neither does He like those who create hardships. Yet in His mercy He forgives the ones who do no good. He hides meanness. If, in His justice, He chooses to punish, His punishment never exceeds the sin committed, while His reward for good deeds is tenfold their value. He delays His punishment so that perhaps the erring servant will realize a wrongdoing and repair it with a good act. Then He transforms the sin that has been repented for into a good deed itself. If His servant intends to do a good deed but is unable to actualize it, He rewards the intention as if it were actualized. But if His servant intends to sin and is unable to actualize it, He forgives the intention.
When you do good to Allah’s creation, even if it is by a kind word or a smile, you see the reflection of Allah, the Perfect Doer of Good, in you. When the prophet Moses (pbuh) talked to his Lord on Mount Sinai, he saw a man standing on the highest point of Allah’s Throne. He asked, “O Lord, how did this servant reach such heights?” Allah Most High answered, “He was never envious of the good that I bestowed upon my servants, and he was especially good to his mother and father.”
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) says, “Someone who reads the Qur’an an does not act upon what he reads is like someone who has not looked upon the Qur’an. Someone who looks upon the faces of his parents in anger, even if he serves them loyally, has not cared for them. Neither have I anything to do with these kinds of people, nor do they have anything to do with me.”
‘Abd al-Barr is the one in whom all the qualities of good, both material and spiritual, are manifest. Allah has given the possibility of wishing to do good to all believers. It becomes active in those who submerge themselves in the sea of mystery of Allah’s beautiful name al-Barr.
People who are paralyzed and continue reciting this Name 202 times daily will find either a cure, or relief, or the courage to endure their sickness.
People who are alcoholic, if they recite this Name 700 times a day, may be cured.
People at sea when a storm erupts may find safety if they keep reciting this Name.
From: The Name & the Named by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti