Which has a higher rank, and what is the difference between: the Foremost (Al-Muqarrabun) and the Companions of the Right (Ashab al-Yamin) mentioned in Surat al-Waqi'ah, and the two groups mentioned in Surat ar-Rahman?

The Foremost (Muqarrabun) are of a higher rank than the Companions of the Right (Aṣḥāb al-Yamīn). The former are those who performed all obligatory and supererogatory acts, abstained from all forbidden and disliked things, and even some permissible ones. For them are ease, fragrance, and a Garden of delight. As for the Companions of the Right, they are the righteous, and their status is below that of the Foremost. Interpreters have differed regarding the two categories mentioned in Surah Ar-Rahman:

- The first opinion: They are the Foremost and the Companions of the Right. - The second opinion: They are two categories of the people of Paradise, differing in their reverence and fear of Allah. The first two Gardens are for those of the highest rank among Allah’s servants in their fear of Allah the Almighty, while the other two Gardens are for those whose state of fear of Allah the Almighty was less.