The Town (Al-Balad)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ NAY! I call to witness this land 1 And you shall be made free from obligation in this city-- 2 or by the great father and his wonderful son (Abraham and Ishmael) 3 Verily We have created man into toil and hardship. 4 Deemest he that none will overpower him? 5 He says: “I have squandered enormous wealth.” 6 Does man think that no one saw him? 7 Did We not make two eyes for him? 8 And a tongue and two lips? 9 And shown him the two ways (good and evil)? 10 Yet he has not scaled the height. 11 How will you comprehend what the Steep ascent is? -- 12 (It is) Freeing a neck (slave, etc.) 13 Or the giving of food in a day of privation 14 of an orphaned relative 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 Those who do so are the people of the right hand, 18 But those who disbelieve in Our verses, they are the Companions of the Left, 19 who will be engulfed in the fire. 20