The Town (Al-Balad)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ I swear by this city (Makkah); 1 this land in which thou art free to dwell 2 And by the begetter (i.e. Adam) and that which he begot (i.e. his progeny); 3 Certainly We have created man to be in distress. 4 Thinketh he, that none hath power over him? 5 saying, 'I have consumed wealth abundant'? 6 Does he think that no one sees him? 7 Have We not given him two eyes, 8 and a tongue, and two lips, 9 And shown him the two highways? 10 But he could not scale the steep ascent. 11 And what have you understood, what the valley is! 12 [It is] the freeing of one's neck [from the burden of sin,] 13 or, in a day of famine, the feeding of 14 to an orphan near of kin; 15 or to a needy person in distress; 16 and, then besides this, he be one of those who believed, and enjoined upon one another steadfastness and enjoined upon one another compassion. 17 These are the people of the right. 18 But they who disbelieved in Our signs - those are the companions of the left. 19 Upon them is a fire, in which they are imprisoned, closed and shut above them. 20