The Town (Al-Balad)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ I swear by this city -- 1 And you are free to live upon it, -- 2 And by the giver of birth, and whom he fathered, 3 that We have created the human being to face a great deal of hardship. 4 What, does he think none has power over him, 5 He shall say: I have wasted much wealth. 6 Thinketh he that none beholdeth him? 7 Have We not given him two eyes, 8 And a tongue, and a pair of lips?- 9 and guided him on the two paths (of good and evil)? 10 But he could not scale the steep ascent. 11 What will explain to you what the ascent is? 12 [It is] the freeing of one's neck [from the burden of sin,] 13 And to feed in the day of hunger. 14 To an orphan near of kin. 15 or some needy person in distress, 16 And to be of those who believe and exhort one another to perseverance and exhort one another to pity. 17 They are those on the Right Hand (the dwellers of Paradise), 18 But those who disbelieve in Our verses, they are the Companions of the Left, 19 Upon them is a fire, in which they are imprisoned, closed and shut above them. 20