The Town (Al-Balad)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ I swear by this city (Makkah); 1 this land in which thou art free to dwell 2 And (the mystic ties of) parent and child;- 3 We have certainly created man into hardship. 4 Does he think that never will anyone overcome him? 5 He says, "I have spent enormous wealth." 6 Does he think that none has observed him? 7 Have We not made for him a pair of eyes? 8 And a tongue and two lips, 9 and shown him the two paths? 10 Yet he has not assaulted the steep; 11 And what have you understood, what the valley is! 12 It is the setting free of a slave 13 Or the giving of food in a day of hunger 14 To the orphan with claims of relationship, 15 Or some poor wretch in misery, 16 Then he became of those who believed and enjoined on each other steadfastness and enjoined on each other compassion. 17 They are those on the Right Hand (the dwellers of Paradise), 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