The Town (Al-Balad)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ I CALL THIS earth to witness -- 1 And you are free to live upon it, -- 2 And (the mystic ties of) parent and child;- 3 indeed, We created man in trouble. 4 What, does he think none has power over him, 5 He may say (boastfully); Wealth have I squandered in abundance! 6 Does man think that no one saw him? 7 Have We not given him two eyes, 8 One tongue, and two lips, 9 And shown unto him the two highways? 10 But he has not attempted the ascent. 11 And what could make thee conceive what it is, that steep uphill road? 12 [It is] the freeing of one's neck [from the burden of sin,] 13 or the feeding, upon a day of [one's own] hunger, 14 An orphan near of kin, 15 Or to the indigent (down) in the dust. 16 And to be of those who believe and exhort one another to perseverance and exhort one another to pity. 17 Those are the companions of the right. 18 But those who reject Our Signs, they are the (unhappy) Companions of the Left Hand. 19 Upon them is a fire, in which they are imprisoned, closed and shut above them. 20