The Town (Al-Balad)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ I swear by this city (Mecca) – 1 in which you are now living 2 And by the giver of birth, and whom he fathered, 3 We have certainly created man into hardship. 4 Does man think that no one will ever have power over him? 5 He says, "I have spent wealth in abundance." 6 Does man think that no one saw him? 7 Have We not made for him a pair of eyes? 8 and a tongue, and a pair of lips, 9 And showed him two highways (of good and evil)? 10 But he hath made no haste on the path that is steep. 11 Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Ascent is! - 12 It is the freeing of a slave 13 Or to feed in times of famine 14 to an orphan near of kin; 15 Or the poor in distress; 16 and being, withal, of those who have attained to faith, and who enjoin upon one another patience in adversity, and enjoin upon one another compassion. 17 These are the People of the Right Hand. 18 and [as for] those who are bent on denying the truth of Our revelations, they are the people of the left hand, 19 with the Fire closed above them. 20