The Town (Al-Balad)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ No, I swear by this country (Mecca), 1 And you, [O Muhammad], are free of restriction in this city - 2 by the begetter, and that he begot, 3 Verily We have created man into toil and struggle. 4 Does he think then that no one has power over him? 5 He saith: I have wasted riches plenteous. 6 Thinks he that none sees him? 7 Have We not given him two eyes, 8 a tongue, and two lips, 9 And did We not guide him to the two elevated things? 10 Yet, he has not entered into Aqaba 11 And what do you know what that difficult steep is? 12 (It is) the setting free of a slave, 13 or giving food upon a day of hunger 14 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 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