The Town (Al-Balad)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ No, I swear by this country (Mecca), 1 And you are free to live upon it, -- 2 or by the great father and his wonderful son (Abraham and Ishmael) 3 Verily, We have created man into [a life of] pain, toil and trial. 4 Does he, then, think that no one has power over him? 5 He will say: 'I have destroyed a vast wealth' 6 Thinketh he that none beholdeth him? 7 Have We not given him two eyes, 8 a tongue, and two lips? 9 and shown him the two paths? 10 Yet he attempteth not the steep, 11 And what can make you know what is [breaking through] the difficult pass? 12 (It is) the setting free of a slave, 13 Or the giving of food in a day of privation 14 of an orphan near of kin, 15 Or to the poor man lying in the dust. 16 And moreover to be of those who accepted faith, and who urged patience to one another and who urged graciousness to one another. 17 They are those on the Right Hand (the dwellers of Paradise), 18 But those who disbelieve Our revelations, their place will be on the left hand. 19 On them is fire closed over. 20