The Town (Al-Balad)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nay! I swear by this city 1 And you shall be made free from obligation in this city-- 2 by the begetter, and that he begot, 3 Assuredly We have created man in trouble. 4 What, does he think none has power over him, 5 He says: "I have wasted a great deal of wealth." 6 Does he then think that no one sees him? 7 Have We not given him two eyes, 8 And a tongue, and a pair of lips?- 9 and shown him the two highways [of good and evil]? 10 Yet he has not scaled the height. 11 And what could make thee conceive what it is, that steep uphill road? 12 To free a neck (from the burden of debt or slavery), 13 And to feed in the day of hunger. 14 To the orphan with claims of relationship, 15 Or a poor man cleaving to the dust. 16 Then he became one of those who believed, and recommended one another to perseverance and patience, and (also) recommended one another to pity and compassion. 17 They are those on the Right Hand (the dwellers of Paradise), 18 But those who disbelieve in Our verses, they are the Companions of the Left, 19 On them is fire closed over. 20