Who are the righteous people

[Muhaba]

What the words "a Guidance and Mercy for the righteous people, who establish the Salat, pay the Zakat, and fully believe in the Hereafter" mean.

Surah Luqman Verses 1-5

Alif. Lam. Mim. These are the verses of the wise Book, a Guidance and Mercy for the righteous people, who establish the Salat, pay the Zakat, and fully believe in the Hereafter. They are the ones who are on the right path enjoined by their Lord, and they are the ones who will attain true success.

Tafsir:
This verse states that the Holy Quran is a Guidance and Mercy for the righteous people. And righteous people have been described as those people who establish the Salat, pay the Zakat (obligatory charity), and fully believe in the Hereafter.

However, it is important to keep in mind that this doesn’t mean these are the only three qualities Righteous people have. The fact that the word Righteous has been used shows that the people in this category have all the qualities of the Righteous: they refrain from all those evils that this Book forbids and practice all those good deeds that this Book enjoins.

So why have these three qualities been mentioned here? The reason is that all good acts depend on them and spur from them.

*****That is right. All good deeds depend on these three qualities. *****

The Righteous people establish the Salat. Establishing the Salat produces God-worship and piety as a permanent characteristic with them.

They pay the Zakat. Zakat strengthens the spirit of sacrifice in them, subdues the love of the world and produces a desire for the goodwill of Allah.

They believe in the Hereafter. Belief in the Hereafter instills the sense of responsibility and answerability which does not allow them to live like an animal - which is free to graze at will in a pasture - but like a human who is fully conscious of the fact that he is not independent but the slave of a Master before Whom he in answerable for all his activities of life.

***** These qualities instill in a person an enduring system of thought and morality owing to which, goodness issues forth from them in a regulated and systematic manner, and the evil - if at all committed- is committed just by chance.*****

Owing to these three qualities, these “Righteous” people are not the kind of righteous people who do good just by chance and may commit evil as often and as freely as they would do good. Contrary to this, these qualities instill in a person an enduring system of thought and morality owing to which, goodness issues forth from them in a regulated and systematic manner, and the evil - if at all committed - is committed just by chance. They do not have any deep-rooted motives which might be arising from their own system of thought and morality and leading them on to the evil way under their own nature impulse.”

[It should be noted that people without any one of the above three qualities do not fall in the Righteous category, however other good things they may do. If they lack any one of the above qualities, they are no longer among the Righteous. ]

Tafsir according to commentary of the verse by Sayyad Abu Al Ala’ Maududu from Tafheem Ul Quran (English translation)