From this same root comes the term al-burr (wheat) (1), so called because of the abundance of its benefits and goodness in comparison with other grains.
Likewise derived from it are the expressions: a man who is bār (dutiful), barr (exceptionally dutiful), the noble bararah, and al-abrār (2).
Thus, birr is a word that gathers together every kind of good and the perfection expected of the servant, while its counterpart is ithm (sin). In the hadith of al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān d. —may Allah be pleased with him—the Prophet ﷺ said to him (3), “You have come to ask about birr and ithm” (4). Ithm, then, is a comprehensive term for evil (5) and for the faults for which a person is reprehensible (6).
Included under the name birr are faith (īmān) and all its outward and inward components, and there is no doubt that taqwā forms part of this meaning. Most often, however, birr is used to speak of the heart’s righteousness (7): the presence within it of the taste of faith (8) and its sweetness, together with the serenity, soundness, openness, strength, and joy in faith that necessarily follow—for faith gives rise to