The Town (Al-Balad)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ I swear by this city (Mecca) – 1 in which you are now living 2 And by the begetter and that which he begat, 3 We have certainly created man into hardship. 4 Does he think that no one can overpower him? 5 (He boasts and shows off) saying, "I have spent a great deal of money (for the cause of God)". 6 Does man think that no one saw him? 7 Did We not assign unto him two eyes 8 and a tongue, and a pair of lips, 9 And shown him the two highways? 10 But he has not broken through the difficult pass. 11 Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Ascent is! - 12 It is the freeing of a slave; 13 Or the giving of food in a day of privation 14 an orphaned relative 15 or of a needy [stranger] lying in the dust 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 Their place will be on the right hand. 18 As for those who rejected Our Signs, they are the People of the Left Hand. 19 Upon them is a fire, in which they are imprisoned, closed and shut above them. 20