Baraka

The Islamic word baraka is derived from the word meaning knee, hence from the rapture of a worshiper on his knees before his deity, and it can be applied to almost anything to indicate a kind of beauty and virtue. As Poet Robert Graves explained it last week to the American Academy and National Institute of Arts and Letters in Manhattan, a battered brass cooking pot can have baraka, but not a new spun-aluminum one; an old pair of trousers may have it, or a poem, or a wonderful one-hoss shay.

The King James Bible is full of baraka, according to Graves, who has co-authored his own quirky version of Holy Scripture, The Nazarene Gospel Restored. "In Britain today this ancient baraka, and that of a few unrestored churches and cathedrals, keeps the flickering candle of faith alight." he explained. "Yet, in the name of progress, various ecclesiastical bodies are now trying to supplant the King James version with the New English Bible, a translation carefully purged of all baraka. Though it has sold in advance by the million, the verdict of the countryside is: 'We don't like this book. The old one was holier. If I had to swear an oath on this book. I wouldn't feel bound to tell the truth.' "

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