The Town (Al-Balad)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ I swear by this city (Mecca) – 1 And thou shalt be allowed in yonder city 2 and I swear by the parent and his offspring: 3 indeed, We created man in trouble. 4 Does he think that none has 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 man think that no one saw him? 7 Have We not given him two eyes, 8 And a tongue and two lips, 9 and shown him the two highways [of good and evil]? 10 Yet he has not scaled the height. 11 Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Ascent is! - 12 It is the setting free of a slave 13 or giving food upon a day of hunger 14 Of a related orphan, 15 or a needy man in misery; 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 They are those on the Right Hand (the dwellers of Paradise), 18 and [as for] those who are bent on denying the truth of Our revelations, they are the people of the left hand, 19 who will be engulfed in the fire. 20