The Town (Al-Balad)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ I swear by this city (Mecca) – 1 And you are free to live upon it, -- 2 and by parent and offspring, 3 Verily, We have created man into [a life of] pain, toil and trial. 4 Does he think then that no one 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 he think that no one has seen him? 7 Did We not grant him two eyes, 8 and a tongue, and a pair of lips, 9 And showed him two highways (of good and evil)? 10 Yet he has not scaled the height. 11 Would that you knew what Aqaba is! 12 It is the setting free of a slave 13 or, in a day of famine, the feeding of 14 An orphan of near relationship 15 or to a destitute lying in 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. 18 But those who disbelieve Our revelations, their place will be on the left hand. 19 Upon them is a fire, in which they are imprisoned, closed and shut above them. 20