Al-Balad · Makki · ayah 18 of 20

Al-Balad 90:18

أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ أَصْحَـٰبُ ٱلْمَيْمَنَةِ

“Those are the companions of the right.[1927]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Those who climbed are named for the right hand: the hand of strength, of a sealed pledge, and of blessing for everyone around them.

A reflection

People who bring blessing with them

In a small accountancy office, everyone knows which colleague to sit beside on a bad day. When Faisal is on shift, the printer somehow works, the difficult client calms down, and someone remembers it is the cleaner's birthday. Nobody could quite say what he does. Things simply go better when he is there.

The ayah names the climbers of the steep road aṣḥāb al-maymanah. The first meaning is simple: the people of the right side. On the Day, they are taken to the right, towards the Garden.

But the root is richer than direction. The right hand is the stronger hand, so yamīn also means strength. An oath is a yamīn, because each party struck his right hand on the other's. And yumn is blessing, good fortune, the opposite of ill omen. The Arabs even named Yemen for lying to the right of the qibla.

Two commentators draw out that last sense. Al-maymanah can mean the people of blessing. They are mayāmīn: a blessing to themselves, and a blessing to others.

That is a beautiful way to describe the people of the steep road. They freed necks. They fed the hungry on a day of hunger. They looked after the orphan in their family and the poor man in the dust. They urged patience and mercy. Wherever they went, things went better.

Notice the contrast with the man at the start of the surah. He spent heaps of wealth, and nobody was freed or fed. His presence blessed no one. The people of the right are the opposite: modest, often unseen, and quietly leaving a trail of good behind them.

Most of us know a Faisal. Some of us are lucky enough to be married to one. The ayah suggests that this quality is not luck or temperament. It is what the steep road produces in the people who climb it.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.