The Town (Al-Balad)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ NAY! I call to witness this land 1 And thou art a freeman of this City;- 2 And by the begetter and that which he begat, 3 Verily, We have created man into [a life of] pain, toil and trial. 4 Thinketh he, that none hath power over him? 5 (He boasts and shows off) saying, "I have spent a great deal of money (for the cause of God)". 6 Does he then think that no one sees him? 7 Have We not appointed to him two eyes, 8 And a tongue and two lips, 9 and shown him the two highways [of good and evil]? 10 So he did not quickly enter the steep valley. 11 And what can make you know what is [breaking through] the difficult pass? 12 (It is) the freeing of a slave, 13 Or the giving of food in a day of hunger 14 to an orphan near of kin; 15 and downtrodden destitute person, (so that he would be of) 16 And to be of those who believe and exhort one another to perseverance and exhort one another to pity. 17 Such are the Companions of the Right Hand. 18 and [as for] those who are bent on denying the truth of Our revelations, 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