The Town (Al-Balad)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Nay! I swear by this city. 1 And you are free to live upon it, -- 2 and I swear by the parent and his offspring: 3 Verily, We have created man into [a life of] pain, toil and trial. 4 Does he think that never will anyone overcome him? 5 He boasts, "I have spent wealth abundant!" 6 Does he, then, think that no one sees him? 7 Have We not given him two eyes, 8 And a tongue and two lips, 9 And did We not show him the two highroads (of good and evil)? 10 Yet he has not scaled the height. 11 and what shall teach thee what is the steep? 12 (It is) the setting free of a slave, 13 the giving of food upon the day of hunger 14 to an orphaned relative 15 and downtrodden destitute person, (so that he would be of) 16 Then he became of those who believed and enjoined on each other steadfastness and enjoined on each other compassion. 17 They are those on the Right Hand (the dwellers of Paradise), 18 But those who reject Our Signs, they are the (unhappy) Companions of the Left Hand. 19 On them will be Fire vaulted over (all round). 20