أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ أَصْحَٰبُ ٱلْمَيْمَنَةِ
A demonstrative of the far. In Arabic the use of the demonstrative that points to what is distant for a group that is near conveys that the group is high in position — that is, the distance is not physical but conveys rank.
This agrees with the image of the ascent in the sūra: those who have climbed the ascent are now above.
Root ṣ-ḥ-b: to accompany something, not to part from it. The analysis of this pattern was made in Sūrat al-Fīl (aṣḥāb al-fīl), and the measure recorded there explains the usage here too: the Qurʾān names communities by tying them to the one thing that defines them.
In Sūrat al-Fīl an army was mentioned by the animal it trusted in. Here two groups are mentioned by the side they are on.
- yumn — blessing, good fortune, good. The association of the right side with good fortune is settled in Arabic (and in many languages).
- maymūn — fortunate, blessed.
- ayman — the one on the right.
Both senses of the word work at once: "the right side" and "good fortune, blessing". There is no single English word to carry both; "the companions of the right" gives one side, "the people of good fortune" the other.
A note on the language: according to what the lexicographers transmit, the names Yemen and Shām (Syria) are also connected with these two directions — the region falling on the right of a person facing east is Yemen, the region falling on his left is Shām. This explanation is found in the classical dictionaries; whether it is historically certain is a separate matter, but it is worth recording for what it shows about the bond between direction and fortune in Arabic.