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Blessing is formally linked to three religions in this atlas: Christianity, Islam and Judaism, all three carrying their own distinct note. It is probably the most frequently performed religious act in the world and the least remarked upon, and each tradition frames it a different way.

Praise, Sign, Invocation

A Jewish berakhah is framed as praise of God rather than as a request, with one formula for bread, one for wine, one for thunder, one for seeing the sea and one for hearing bad news. Christian blessing is given by the sign of the cross, by the hand or by sprinkled water, and runs from grace before a meal to the bishop's blessing at the end of a liturgy, a gesture rather than a fixed form of words. Muslim usage turns on bismillah spoken before an act and mashallah at the sight of something good, with the invocation of blessing on the Prophet kept as a separate and constant practice of its own. Most of the three traditions distinguish a blessing anyone may give from one reserved to an office, and most also hold that the words work by the will of God rather than by any force of their own, a distinction ordinary practice keeps blurring in all three.

Where To Read More

• BlessingDevotional PracticesBlessing, the practice this page differentiates across three religions
• ChristianityAbrahamic (Monotheistic)Christianity: blessing given by the sign of the cross, by the hand or by sprinkled water
• IslamAbrahamic (Monotheistic)Islam: bismillah before an act, mashallah at the sight of something good
• JudaismAbrahamic (Monotheistic)Judaism: a berakhah framed as praise of God rather than as a request