فَأَصحابُ المَيمَنَةِ ما أَصحابُ المَيمَنَةِ

The people of the right hand – and what are the people of the right hand?

EXEGESIS

It is very interesting how this and the next few verses present a contrast between the people of the right (maymanah) and the people of misery (mashʿamah). This is a literary technique called iḥtibāk, where among four qualities that oppose one another in pairs, only one of each side is mentioned. This way, the meaning of all four qualities is conveyed in the most concise way. This technique is used in many places in the Holy Quran (see 2:19, 4:36, 10:32, 10:100, 17:71-72, and many more). Therefore, what this cluster of verses implicate is a contrast between the people of the right who are blessed, against the people of the left who are misfortunate. This clarifies that what is meant by right and left in such verses is not just a matter of spatial direction.

What is meant by right?

Being upright.

What is meant by left?

Evil and theft.^{‎[1]Rūmī, Mathnawī, vol. 1, line 3200.}

Maymanah means the right side.^{‎[2]Raghib, under y-m-n.} It is said that there are three elements in the root of the word: strength, good, and abundance. The two meanings of ‘right’ and ‘oath’ are taken from Hebrew and Syriac. It could also be that the right hand was called yamīn because it was associated with strength and blessing; and an oath was called yamīn because it was taken by the right hand.^{‎[3]Tahqiq, under y-m-n.} Their description as the people of yamīn could refer to their fulfilment of their oath and commitment to God and His religion. Thus, right hand does not refer to their limb, but to their act of obedience and loyalty on the path of truth.^{‎[4]Rahmah, 4/268.}

Even if the righteous are literally resurrected and gathered on the right side on the Day of Resurrection (on the right side of the plain, the right side of the Throne, or the right side of Adam), their description as the people of the right hand cannot be merely physical. Nothing in the hereafter is purely nominal or conventional without any aspect of truth or reality associated with it, for That is the day of truth (78:39). Therefore, in these contexts, yamīn (right) refers to yumn, meaning felicity, blessedness, and eternal happiness.

[1] Rūmī, Mathnawī, vol. 1, line 3200.
[2] Raghib, under y-m-n.
[3] Tahqiq, under y-m-n.
[4] Rahmah, 4/268.