The Town (Al-Balad)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ Nay! I swear by this city 1 – this city wherein you have been rendered violable– 2 And by the giver of birth, and whom he fathered, 3 That We created man in toil and trouble. 4 Does He think that no one will ever have control over him? 5 He says, "I have spent wealth in abundance." 6 Does he think that no one has seen him? 7 Have We not given him two eyes, 8 One tongue, and two lips, 9 And shown unto him the two highways? 10 Yet he has not scaled the height. 11 What will explain to you what the ascent is? 12 The freeing of a slave, 13 Or, feeding, in a day of privation, 14 of an orphaned relative 15 or to a 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 Those who do so are the people of the right hand, 18 But those who reject Our Signs, they are the (unhappy) Companions of the Left Hand. 19 Over them will be fire closed in. 20