Tafsir of Az-Zumar 39:61

"And Allah will save those..."

It is recited: (yunajjī) and (yunjī).

{...by their success (bi-mafāzatihim)}: By their prosperity (falāḥ). It is said: "He succeeded (fāza) in such-and-such" when he prospers through it and attains his desire from it.

The explanation of al-mafāzah is His saying: {No evil shall touch them, nor shall they grieve}. It is as if it were asked: "What is their success?" And it was answered: "No evil shall touch them." That is, He saves them by negating evil and grief from them.

Or, it means: "By the cause of their salvation (manjātihim)," derived from the Almighty’s saying: {Do not think them to be in a place of safety (bi-mafāzah) from the punishment} (Al 'Imran: 188), meaning: in a place of salvation from it; because salvation is the greatest prosperity. The cause of their salvation is righteous action; this is why Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) interpreted al-mafāzah as "good deeds."

It is also permissible that it means: "By the cause of their prosperity," because righteous action is the cause of prosperity, which is entering Paradise. It is also permissible for righteous action itself to be called mafāzah because it is the cause of it.

It is also recited: (bi-mafāzātihim), implying that for every God-fearing person, there is a success.

If you ask: What is the grammatical position of {No evil shall touch them} according to the two interpretations? I reply: As for the first interpretation, it has no grammatical position because it is a new, independent sentence. As for the second, it is in the accusative case as a state (ḥāl).

{Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is, over all things, Disposer of affairs. To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth. And those who disbelieve in the verses of Allah—it is those who are the losers.}