The Town (Al-Balad)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ No! I swear by this land, 1 And you are free to live upon it, -- 2 And by the begetter (i.e. Adam) and that which he begot (i.e. his progeny); 3 indeed, We created man in trouble. 4 Thinks he that none can overcome him? 5 He says, "I have spent wealth in abundance." 6 Deemest he that none beholdeth him? 7 Have We not given him two eyes, 8 and a tongue, and a pair of lips, 9 And showed him two highways (of good and evil)? 10 But he hath made no haste on the path that is steep. 11 How will you comprehend what the Steep ascent is? -- 12 The freeing of a slave! 13 Or giving food in a day of hunger (famine), 14 An orphan, of kin, 15 or of a needy [stranger] lying in the dust 16 And to be of those who believe, and urge upon one another to persevere, and urge upon each other to be kind. 17 These are the People of the Right Hand. 18 As for those who rejected Our Signs, they are the People of the Left Hand. 19 who will be engulfed in the fire. 20