The Town (Al-Balad)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ Nay! I swear by this city 1 And you, [O Muhammad], are free of restriction in this city - 2 and [I call to witness] parent and offspring: 3 Assuredly We have created man in trouble. 4 Deemest he that none will overpower him? 5 He says, “I destroyed vast wealth.” 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 not attempted the Ascent - 11 and what shall teach thee what is the steep? 12 (It is) the freeing of a slave, 13 or the feeding, upon a day of [one's own] hunger, 14 to an orphan near of kin; 15 Or of a homeless needy person! 16 And to be of those who believe, and urge upon one another to persevere, and urge upon each other to be kind. 17 They are those on the Right Hand (the dwellers of Paradise), 18 and [as for] those who are bent on denying the truth of Our revelations, they are the people of the left hand, 19 Over them will be fire closed in. 20