The First: The Barakah of the dhaat (physical essence) and whatever remnants are left from it. This type is for the Prophets and the Messengers and no one else is included amongst them, not even the best of the Companions of Allaah’s Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) , such as Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali. They do not share in this barakah.

And no person can obtain the barakah of the Prophets, except the one who is upon what they called to (Tawheed and Obedience) and who guide themselves by their actions and who adhere to their commands and prohibitions. And an example of this is that the barakah of the presence of the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) did not benefit the Companions who disobeyed his command in the Battle of Uhud. (refer to 3:152). So they were made to suffer a great deal on account of their disobedience.

This type of barakah of the physical essence was cut off after the death of the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) except what remains of his physical essence after his death (eg. Hair). However, the certainty that something remains today and the truthfulness of that has diminished after the passing of time. Anyone making the claim has to provide isnaad to show that something is from the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) since many make that claim.

The Second: The Barakah of Righteous Action and Following the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) . And everyone whose action agrees with the Sunnah of the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) attains this. Hence, every Muslim has barakah of action within him to the same extent that he follows the commands and prohibitions of Allaah, by doing the commanded things and avoiding the prohibited things. It is for this reason that there comes the hadeeth in Bukhaaree "Certainly there is within this tree a barakah like the barakah of the Muslim" concerning the date-palm tree. Therefore, every Muslim has barakah to the extent that he follows the Book and the Sunnah. However his barakah is the barakah of action and not the barakah of the physical body. This is only for the Messengers and Prophets, whose bodies are not consumed by the earth.

Likewise, the righteous servants of Allaah have the barakah of righteous action and following to the extent of what the possess of the requirements of that barakah. Hence, the Scholar of the Sunnah has the barakah of knowledge, the Hafidh of the Book of Allaah who guards its commandments has the barakah that results from that and so on. And the ones with the greatest Barakah are the greatest and most severe of them in following the Book and the Sunnah, those who adhere to all the obligatory duties and those who refrain from the prohibited matters.

So the issue here is that whoever is from the Prophets then he has both types of barakah, in the physical essence (i.e. his body) and also in his actions. And whoever is other them, then his barakah is only in his action and not in his physical body.

An example: Urwa’s father said, Aishah said, "I borrowed a necklace from Asma and it was lost. So Allaah’s Messenger sent a man to search fro it and he found it. Then the time for prayer came and there was no water. They prayed (without ablution) and informed Allaah’s Messenger about it and so the verse of tayammum was revealed. Usaid bin Hudair said to Aishah, ‘May Allaah reward you, whenever anything happened which you did not like, Allaah brought good for you and for the Muslims in that". And he also said, "…O Family of Abu Bakr! This is not the first blessing of yours". [Bukharee]. So here the barakah of tayammum was sent down, on account of Aishah. However this was not the barakah of the physical essence and Usaid bin Hudair was not seeking the barakah of the physical essence from Abu Bakr and his family such as what they used to do with the hair and other things from the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) .

Likewise: When the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) married Juwairiyyah, Aishah said, "I never saw a woman in whom there was a greater barakah for her people than her" [Musnad and Abu Dawud in his Sunan]. So this was in reference to the fact that many from the tribe of Juwairiyyah were released after her marriage to the Prophet. So again, this shows that the barakah was not in Juwairiyyah physically, but because she married the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) , a great barakah was bestowed upon her.

Hence, to conclude this section: Barakah of both types is only for the Prophets and Messengers, but as for other than them, then whatever barakah they possess it is only on account of following the guidance. To the extent that they follow the guidance, to that extent do they possess barakah. This is the understanding of Ahl us-Sunnah.

After understanding all of this we are now ready to discuss tabarruk through the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) and the righteous people.

Tabarruk through the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam)