Tafsir of Al-Mu'minoon 23:61

(أولئك) is a demonstrative pronoun pointing to those previously mentioned, in consideration of their possession of those described attributes. The distal nature of the pronoun serves to signify their lofty rank in merit. It is the subject (mubtada’), and its predicate (khabar) is the words of the Exalted: (يسارعون في الخيرات). The entire nominal sentence is the predicate for "Indeed" (Inna), and the discourse is an initiation (isti’naf) advanced to clarify who it is that possesses the hastening toward good deeds, following the act of making the disbelievers despair of them and refuting their false suppositions.

That is: those described with the noble qualities detailed previously—specifically, and not those disbelievers—hasten toward the attainment of good deeds. Among these are the immediate worldly rewards promised for righteous actions, as in His, the Exalted’s, saying: (So Allah gave them the reward of this world and the excellent reward of the Hereafter) and His saying: (And We gave him his reward in the world, and indeed he, in the Hereafter, will be among the righteous). He has established for them that which was negated for their opposites. However, He altered the style; He did not say "hastening is done for them in good deeds," but rather attributed the hastening to them to gesture toward their entitlement to attain good deeds through the excellence of their actions. The preference for the particle "in" (fi) over "toward" (ila) serves to signal that they are immersed in the various arts of good deeds, rather than being external to them and merely directing themselves toward them by way of hastening, as in His saying: (And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a garden) [3:133].

(وَهُمْ لَهَا) — that is, for the good deeds, among which is that which you have heard — and the prepositional phrase is connected to His saying: (سَابِقُونَ).

(سَابِقُونَ) is either treated as an intransitive verb—meaning they are the performers of precedence—or it has an elided object—meaning they are surpassing the people, or the disbelievers. It is a verb that takes the preposition lam or ila; it is said, "I surpassed ila [toward] such-and-such" and "I surpassed li [for] such-and-such." The intended meaning of their precedence toward good deeds is their success in obtaining them and attaining them.

Abu Hayyan considered this sentence to be an emphasis for the first sentence. It is also said that sabiqun is transitive to the pronoun directly, and the lam is an additive particle (za'idah), and its addition is made appropriate because the operative word is derivative and the governed pronoun precedes it; that is: "they are the ones who precede it." The intended meaning of their preceding it is also the intransitive sense, which is attainment—that is, they attain them before the Hereafter, as it is expedited for them in this world. Thus, the objection—that "preceding a thing" implies the precedence of the predecessor over the one preceded, so how can it be said they precede the good deeds?—is invalid. The necessity for seeking the intransitive meaning in this way is more strenuous than in the previous interpretation; hence, with the admission of the addition, it is said that this is a labored interpretation.

It has also been permitted that the intended meaning of "good deeds" is acts of obedience, and the pronoun (لها) refers to them as well, with the lam being for causation and connected to what follows. The meaning is: they desire acts of obedience and worship with the utmost desire, and because of them, they are performers of precedence, or because of them they are surpassing the people to the reward or to Paradise.

On the assumption that "good deeds" refers to acts of obedience, it is permitted that (لها) is the predicate of the subject, and (سابقون) is a secondary predicate. The meaning of (هم لها) is that they are prepared to perform such things as these great affairs. This is like your saying to someone from whom a need is sought that is not expected of others: "You are for it" (Anta laha). It is from their eloquent speech, and to this belongs the saying: "Problems that become difficult and strike, O Messenger of Allah, you are for them." Al-Tabari favored this view because the lam is firmly established in this meaning. From Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), there is that which is clear in making (لها) the predicate, even if it is not clear in making the pronoun refer to "good deeds" in the sense of acts of obedience; in al-Bahr, it is narrated from him that the meaning is "Felicity was established for them in pre-eternity, therefore they are for it."

You know that most of these views are contrary to the apparent meaning, and that the first interpretation of "good deeds" is the most consistent with the preceding verse. Among people are those who claimed that the pronoun (لها) refers to Paradise, and others who claimed it refers to the nations, and that is as you see it.

The linguist recited (يسرعون), the imperfect form of asra'a. It is said: "I hastened ila [toward] the thing" and "I sara'tu [hastened] to it," with the same meaning. As for (يسارعون), as al-Zajjaj said, it is more emphatic than (يسرعون). This is supported by the fact that the reciprocal form (mufa'ala) occurs between two parties, and thus it requires the urging of the self toward precedence, because whoever contests you in something, you desire to overcome him in it.