1. The actual word used here, tabāraka, is hard to translate even in one sentence, let alone in one word. Its root is B R K from which we have two infinitives: barakah and burūk. Barakah suggests growth, plentitude and abundance. As for buruk, it signifies permanence, continued existence, and indispensability. The word tabaraka conforms to the verbal form tafa'ul which conveys the nuances of intensity and perfection. The word thus denotes growth, plentitude, utmost abundance, and a high state of permanence. It is used in a variety of contexts to denote, in different ways, the permanence or abundance of an object. (Ibn Manzūr, Lisān al-'Arab, q.v. B R K. - Ed.) It is also used to signify a "great height". For example, the expression tabarakat al-nakhlah means: "the date-palm grew very high". Al-Asma'i says that a bedouin climbed a high mound and said to his companions: "tabāraktu 'alaykum" ("I have become higher (or taller) than you.") (See Ālūsi, Rūḥ al- Ma'ānī, Vol. 18. p. 230 - Ed.) Sometimes it is also used to denote greatness and eminence: on other occasions, excellence in virtue, goodness and generosity; and still on other occasions, a high degree of purity and holiness. The same holds true for its other meaning, namely permanence and perenniality. It is, however, the context that indicates in each instance which one of its several meanings the word is being used in.
The present context seems to suggest that tabaraka is being used here in respect of God to stress not one but several ideas:
(i) That God is Bounteous and Omniscient. He has, therefore, bestowed the great blessing of the Furqan ("criterion") upon His servant Muḥammad (peace be on him), and thereby devised an arrangement to warn all mankind.
(ii) That God is Most Exalted and Most Glorious since the dominion of the heavens and the earth belongs to Him.
(iii) That God is Most Hallowed, that He is free of every imperfection. Hence, there is no basis for the notion that anyone has a share in God's Divinity. No one belongs to God's genre, and hence no one can be His peer, nor can anyone bear any resemblance to Him. God is not subject to death or extinction, to change or transformation. Being Everlasting, He is in no need of any offspring to succeed Him. (iv) That God is the Highest, the Most Supreme because Kingdom and sovereignty wholly belong to Him, and no one has the power that would enable partaking of God's power and authority.
(v) That God is Absolute in His creative power for He is the Creator of everything in the universe and the sole determinator of its destiny. (For more details see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, Vol. VI, al-Mu'minun, 23: n. 14, p. 88. See also n. 19 below.)