The Town (Al-Balad)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ I swear by yonder city 1 this land in which thou art free to dwell 2 and I swear by the parent and his offspring: 3 Assuredly We have created man in trouble. 4 Does He think that no one will ever have control over him? 5 He shall say: I have wasted much wealth. 6 Thinketh he that none beholdeth him? 7 Have We not made for him a pair of eyes?- 8 a tongue, and two lips, 9 And did We not show him the two highroads (of good and evil)? 10 But he could not scale the steep ascent. 11 What will explain to you what the ascent is? 12 The freeing of a slave, 13 Or the giving of food in a day of privation 14 of an orphaned relative 15 Or a needy person in misery 16 Then he became of those who believed and enjoined on each other steadfastness and enjoined on each other compassion. 17 These are the people of the right. 18 But those who deny Our revelations are the people of the left hand: 19 over them is a Fire covered down. 20