Regarding Saying "Mabrook" and the Correct Way to Invoke For Blessings Upon Someone

From Shaykh Ubayd aj-Jaabiree's Explanation of the Three Fundamental Principles
page 113-114:


"It is allowable to make a supplication for a person that they be blessed.

The correct way to do this is to say: 'Baaraka Allaahu laka' or 'Baarka Allaahu 'alayka' and 'hadhal amr mubaarak'.

The expression that is common upon the tongues of the general people is 'Mabrook 'ala fulaan' (may so and so be knelt upon); this is a blatant mistake and in opposition to the correct usage of the word in the Arabic language.

Mabrook comes from the verb Baraka and Mubaarak comes from the verb Baaraka, so don't use the word Mabrook; alternatively, use Mubaarak because it comes from Baaraka as we stated. The common people don't intend by their saying: 'Mabrook alayhi' to supplicate that this person be knelt upon, but this expression is incorrect, as they want to make a supplication for the person that they be blessed. So it is said 'Baaraka Allaahu alayka'... and 'Az-Zawaaj Mubaarak' (Allaah willing, the marriage will be blessed)."

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الحمد لله وحده ، والصلاة والسلام على من لا نبي بعده ، وبعد

When saying the supplication “may Allah bless you”, some of the people say…

بارك الله فيك (Baaraka Allahu feek)

And some say…

برك الله فيك (Baraka Allahu feek)

The difference between pronouncing the two statements is only one letter; the Alif (الف) after the letter baa, while the difference in meanings between the two statements is tremendous.

When you consider that the phrase بارك الله فيك is a supplication in which we are invoking Allah the Exalted to carry out an action, then it is befitting that we are diligent in pronouncing it correctly.

بارك الله فيك

بارك is form three of the verb برك , this form of the verb means to bless

الله Allah’s Name (لفظ الجلالة) is the Doer of the action in this sentence. Allah is the One whom we are asking to do the action.

فيك meaning literality “in you”

Therefore in this noble supplication we are asking Allah the Exalted to bless the person we are speaking to, or to place blessing in them.

In contrast, the verb برك (baraka) is form one, this verb means (استناخ) to kneel down!

So it becomes clear that برك is not the correct form of the verb to use.

برَّك form two of the verb برك also means to invoke a blessing; this form has a Shadda on the raa.

This form of the verb can be found in the following Hadith.

قال الإمام مسلم رحمه الله
‏ ‏عَنْ ‏ ‏عَائِشَةَ زَوْجِ النَّبِيِّ ‏ ‏صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ‏
أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ‏ ‏صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ‏ ‏ كَانَ ‏ ‏ يُؤْتَى بِالصِّبْيَانِ ‏ ‏فَيُبَرِّكُ ‏ ‏عَلَيْهِمْ ‏ ‏ وَيُحَنِّكُهُمْ ‏ ‏ فَأُتِيَ بِصَبِيٍّ فَبَالَ عَلَيْهِ فَدَعَا بِمَاءٍ فَأَتْبَعَهُ بَوْلَهُ وَلَمْ يَغْسِلْهُ


Imam Muslim, may Allah have mercy upon him, said it has been narrated by Aaisha the wife of the Prophet صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ,

“The children used to be brought to the to the
Messenger of Allah صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ so he would invoke blessings for them and place a date on their palate, so one of the children that was brought to him urinated on him, so he requested some water and poured the water over the urine and he did not wash it.”

Below is a brief discussion on the topic with references and notes taken and translated from sahab.net.

http://www.sahab.net/forums/showthread.php?t=338652

بَرَكَ is a simple three letter root verb, its’ verbal noun is بُرُوك as we find in the statement (بروك البعير) “the camel’s kneeling”.
This form of the word also appears in the Hadith…

“إذَا سَجَدَ أَحَدُكُمْ فَلَا يَبْرُكْ كَمَا يَبْرُكُ الْبَعِيرُ”

“When one of you prostrates let him not prostrate as a camel prostrates.”

The active participle (اسم الفاعل), meaning the one doing the action, is بارِكٌ

The passive participle (اسم المفعول) meaning the thing the action of kneeling fell upon, is مَبـْروكٌ عليه

بارك is a three letter root verb that has been increased by one letter. The verbal noun is مباركة
The active participle is مُبارِك
The passive participle is مُبارَك, meaning that which is blessed, as we find in the statement of Allah the Exalted

{وَهَذَا كِتَابٌ أَنْـزَلْنَاهُ مُبَارَكٌ فَاتَّبِعُوهُ وَاتَّقُوا لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ}

“And this is a blessed Book (the Quran) which We have sent down, so follow it and fear Allah, that you may receive mercy.

Similarly it can be said that the commonly used phrase “مَبـْروك” (mabrook) is also incorrect according to the rules of the Arabic language, and it would be more correct from a language point of view to say…

مُبـارك أو (بالبَـرَكة) أو بارك الله لك أو فيك أو عليك

As for our saying to an individual “مَبـْروك” then this means “may a camel kneel down upon you and settle.”

So this statement can be considered more of a supplication against the person than it is a supplication for them.

Although the Noble Scholar Sheikh Uthamin, may Allah have mercy upon him, allows it due to its wide spread use among the common people.

The Noble Sheikh was asked…
Q: What is the ruling on congratulating a person by saying to them مبروك considering that it is said that this phrase is taken from the word البروك so it is as though you are saying “may a camel kneel down upon you”, and this phrase is not taken from the word مبارك, the phrase that actually means blessings?

Answer: The correct phrase should come from البركة (blessing) because it is said that this word is from the word مبارك, and this word is from the four letter verb بارك, and it is said that the phrase مبروك is from the verb برك.
But the common people do not intend except the meaning “blessing”, and it has the meaning of مبارك in the Arabic language.

And I don’t think that it is from the principles of Arabic morphology (القواعد الصرفية) to derive from the word برك the word مبروك because برك is an intransitive verb (الفعل اللازم) {meaning it does not require an object) and an intransitive verb can not form a passive participle (اسم المفعول) except if it is made transitive (المتعدي) by حرف الجر.

Therefore it is said, “I kneeled the she-camel, so she is kneeling”, (using the word باركة which is the active participle and not using the word مبروكة which is the passive participle.) … therefore forming a passive participle from the word برك is not done unless it is made transitive by using حرف جر.

But it is used (today) without حرف جر as is known among the common people, but if the word is formed from the root الباء والراء والكاف these letters which are the foundation of the word البركة (blessing) then I don’t see anything preventing someone saying “مبروك” with the meaning of “مبارك”


Compiled and translated by Rasheed Barbee

بارك الله فيكم