Sami Yusuf: 'Barakah' is my response to atrocities carried out in the name of Islam. British musician and singer Sami Yusuf's Barakah explores his beliefs in today’s violent world.
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00:00In this context, Barakah really means grace of Muhammad PBUH, which means Barakah Muhammadiyah
00:19is the grace emanating from the Muhammadeen message, his presence.
00:28And essentially, this album, Barakah, was made for one reason and one reason only.
00:36It's basically my response to the atrocities that have been carried out in the name of
00:42Islam.
00:43Given the context that we're living in today, which is madness and extremism of an unprecedented
00:55level.
00:56We have never seen anything like this.
00:58I read, I was reading the other day, actually earlier on today, to be precise, about a mosque
01:06that had survived the Mongol invasion, but not extremists, you know, that destroyed it
01:13last year.
01:14It's a very, very difficult time.
01:18I think this extremism is not just something exclusive to Islam, I really do, you can see
01:23Donald Trump, and you'll know what I mean, just hang on TV, perhaps not as violent,
01:30but the extremism is there, unfortunately, at all levels, and I think one of the reasons
01:35for that is metaphysical, is that we have lost who we are, that sense of belonging and
01:41who we are at a metaphysical level.
01:47This album is not just a musical album, it's an experience.
01:52If you want to know more about your tradition, it's not only through reading books, just
01:59reading, listening to an old piece of poetry from Buleh Shah, or from Hafiz, or Sa'di,
02:07or Mutanabbi, or Ibn Arabi, Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi, or Rabi al-Adawiyya, has more barakah
02:16and grace, authenticity and truth in it, than to read a modern book, you know, written
02:23in the 19th century on, you know, the fundamentals of religion.
02:27Because to truly understand the tradition, you have to really appreciate the tradition,
02:31you have to immerse yourself in the art, and Islam, like other religions, great religions,
02:37has its own art, and the number one art, the highest, the most sacred, is the talawah,
02:44is the recitation of the Qur'an, which is not music, kind of music, but we don't call
02:49it music out of respect, the actual sonic sound, the sounds that you hear, is also sacred.
02:56This album is an invitation to bask in the barakah of traditional sacred music, to know
03:02what the knowers and lovers of God knew, to understand, to be connected to that, and I
03:10believe the only way to tackle, you know, the extremist worldview, is by reconnecting
03:16with normative tradition.