الكلمة «البركة» تعني لغةً الكثرةَ الدائمةَ لكلِّ خيرٍ. ويذهب العلماء إلى أبعد من ذلك فيردّون هذه الكلمة ومعناها إلى كلمة «البِركة» التي تعني كميةً كبيرةً من الماء، وهي أيُّ وعاءٍ واسعٍ أو مجتمعٍ للماء يحتفظ باستمرارٍ بكميةٍ كبيرةٍ منه. وكذلك البركةُ هي أيضًا كميةٌ كبيرةٌ دائمةٌ من الخير. فمعنى هذه العبارة: أَنزِلْ البركةَ على ما أعطيتَنيه.

The word E!?
'
 (Barakah) “blessing” literally means a lot of anything good that is continuous. The scholars even trace this word and its meaning back to the word E!?'  (Birkah) which means a large amount of water. It is any wide container or gathering of water that continuously contains a large amount of water. Similarly, blessing is also a continuously large amount of good. So the meaning of this statement is: Send blessings down upon that which You have given me.

الفظ «فِيمَا أَعْطَيْتَ» شامل، يتناول كل ما أعطاه الله من المال والأولاد والعلم وسائر ما أنعم الله به علينا، ولذلك فإنك تسأل الله أن يبارك في ذلك كله. فإن لم يضع الله البركة فيما أعطاك، فسيُحرم منك خيرٌ كثير.

The wording, “in what You have given” is comprehensive including anything Allaah has given us of wealth, children, knowledge, and everything else Allaah () has bestowed upon us. Therefore, you ask Allaah to put blessings in all of that. If Allaah does not put blessings into that which He has given you, a great amount of good will surely be prevented from you.

كَمْ مِنْ إِنْسَانٍ يَمْلِكُ مَالًا عَظِيمًا، وَكَأَنَّهُ يَعِيشُ فِي فَقْرٍ؟

How many people possess a vast amount of wealth, yet it is as if they are living in poverty?

لِأَنَّهُمْ لَا يَنَالُونَ مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ نَفْعًا حَقِيقِيًّا، بَلْ يَجْمَعُونَهَا فَقَطْ وَلَا يَنْتَفِعُونَ بِهَا أَبَدًا. وَهَذَا نَتِيجَةُ نَزْعِ البَرَكَةِ مِنْهَا.

This is because they gain no real benefit from their wealth; they simply collect it and never benefit from it. This is the result of the blessings being removed from it.

وكذلك، كثير من الناس لهم أولاد وأحفاد كثيرون، ومع ذلك لا ينفعون آباءهم بشيء بسبب عقوقهم وجحودهم. فمثل هؤلاء لم يُبارَك لهم في أولادهم.

Likewise, many people have lots of children and grandchildren, yet they do not benefit their parents in anything due to their disobedience and ungratefulness. Such people have not been blessed in their children.

وتجد أيضًا بعض الناس قد آتاهم الله علمًا كثيرًا، ومع ذلك كأنه أمّيّ لا يعرف شيئًا. لا ترى أثر العلم عليه في عبادته، ولا في أخلاقه، ولا في آدابه، ولا في معاملته للناس. بل ربما زاده علمه كِبرًا وعُجبًا، وجعله يرى نفسه فوق سائر عباد الله، فيحتقرهم ويُذلّهم. ومثل هذا لا يدرك أن الذي وهبه هذا العلم ليس إلا الله. وتراه لا ينفع الناس بعلمه، لا بدروس ولا بنصيحة ولا بكتابة، بل هو منصرف إلى نفسه وحدها. ولا شك أن هذا حرمان عظيم، مع أن العلم الشرعي من أعظم ما يُنعم الله به على عبده.

You also find some people to whom Allaah has given a great amount of knowledge, yet it is as if he is illiterate. You see no traces of knowledge upon him in his worship, in his character, in his manners, or in the way he treats others. Rather, his knowledge may even increase him in arrogance and thinking himself to be above the rest of Allaah’s servants, belittling and humiliating them. Such a person does not realize the one who bestowed this knowledge upon him is none other than Allaah. You see that he never benefits people with his knowledge, neither with lessons, nor advice, nor with writings. On the contrary, he is exclusively centered only upon himself. This is without doubt a great deprivation, even though religious knowledge is one of the most blessed things Allaah gives to a servant.

ومن أسباب ذلك أنك إذا علَّمته لغيرك ونشرت هذا العلم بين الناس، نلتَ الأجر على ذلك، وهذا من جوانب عدة.

One reason for this is that when you teach it to others and spread this knowledge among the people, you are rewarded for that and this is from many different perspectives:

عندما تنشر هذا العلم الشرعي، فإنما تنشره لدين الله ().

1. When you spread this religious knowledge, you do so for the religion of Allaah ().

فَأَنْتَ بِذٰلِكَ تَكُونُ مِنَ الْمُجَاهِدِينَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللهِ، لِأَنَّكَ فَتَحْتَ قُلُوبَ النَّاسِ لِلْعِلْمِ الشَّرْعِيِّ، كَالْمُجَاهِدِ الَّذِي يَفْتَحُ بَلَدًا بِالْإِصْلَاحِ وَالْإِيمَانِ.

So you become from the Mujaahidoon in the path of Allaah: that is because you have opened the hearts to religious knowledge like the Mujaahid who conquers a land with rectification and faith.

٢۔ ومن بركات نشر العلم وتعليمه أنّ بذلك حفظًا وصيانةً لشريعة الله (الشريعة). ولولا تبليغ العلم لما حُفظت الشريعة.

2. From the blessings of spreading knowledge and teaching it is that by doing so, there is the preservation and protection of Allaah’s legislation (the Sharee’ah). If it were not for the passing on of knowledge, the legislation would not have been preserved.

3. ومن بركات نشر العلم أنك إذا علّمتَ غيرك فقد أسديتَ إليه خيراً عظيماً، إذ تبصّره بدين الله (). وفضلاً عن ذلك، فإذا عبد العبدُ اللهَ بعلمٍ وبصيرة، كان لك من الأجر مثلُ ما لَه، لأنك دللتَه على خير معيّن، والدالُّ على الخير كفاعله.9

3. Also from the blessings of spreading knowledge is that when you teach others, you are doing them a great deal of good. You give them insight into the religion of Allaah (). Moreover, when the servant then worships Allaah with knowledge and insight, similar rewards they are given will be your reward, because you directed them towards a particular good. The one who directs another to do something good is just like the one who actually does it.9

4. كذلك، بنشر العلم وتعليمه يزداد علم المرء نفسه. ومعلوم أن من يعلّم الناس علمًا معينًا يزداد علمه في ذلك الفن، وذلك لأنه في التعليم يستحضر ما سبق أن تعلّمه وحفظه، ويتعلم في الوقت نفسه أشياء جديدة يجب عليه أن يُعدّ لها العدّة. وبهذا المعنى يوجد مثل عربي مشهور في المال: "يزيد بالإنفاق كثيرًا، وينقص إذا أُمسك بقبضة شحيحة". وكذلك العلم، إذا كُتم ولم يُعلَّم، نقص في النهاية.

4. Also, by spreading and teaching knowledge, one’s own knowledge increases. It is known that anyone who teaches a particular knowledge to people, his knowledge in that subject will increase. This is because in teaching, one is recalling what he previously learned and memorized as well as learning new things that he must prepare. In this meaning, there is a famous (Arabic) proverb regarding wealth, “It increases by spending it often, and it decreases if held in a tight fist.” Similarly, if knowledge is withheld and not taught, it will eventually decrease.