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ʾulāʾika yusāriʿūna fī l-khayrāti wa-hum lahā sābiqūna
—it is they who are zealous in [performing] good works and take the lead in them.
— Ali Quli Qarai
23Al-Mu’minūnالمؤمنونVerse 61 of 118
The Believers23. Al-Mu’minūnالمؤمنون
Al Mu’minūn
The Believers
MeccanVerse 61 of 118
Surah al-Mu’minun - Verse 61
61. “These (are they who) hasten in good things and they are the foremost to (attain) them.”
Fear of Allah and the Hereafter makes us hasten to do good deeds. In the commentary of verse 56, it was said that some people think that having wealth and offspring are the cause of happiness and would make them hasten in doing good deeds. However, this verse implies that haste in doing good comes from knowledge, faith, sincerity, and charity accompanied by apprehension, and not what they imagine. Contrary to what those who are ignorant and conceited think, real happiness and prosperity are not things possessed by the wealthy and affluent. Goodness, prosperity and Divine favour belong to that group of believers who are qualified with the aforementioned specialties and are outstanding in their morals and beliefs and thus are pioneers in doing good deeds.
The verse says:
“These (are they who) hasten in good things and they are the foremost to (attain) them.”
These couple of verses have an obvious and interesting logical progression that describe the attributes of this special group of believers: First, it starts with the fear of Allah born out of respect for Him. This is the motivating factor that makes them submit to Him and, negate all forms of polytheism. It ends with having faith in the Day of Resurrection and Allah’s Court of Justice, which causes us to do good deeds and to take responsibility for the quality of those deeds.
The Qur’anic word /yusari’una/ means outstripping others in speed. This interesting word expresses the state of believers who race in competing for a great and precious objective and indicates the relentlessness of the competitors in acts of goodness and righteous deeds.