The Town (Al-Balad)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ NAY! I call to witness this land 1 in which you are now living 2 or by the great father and his wonderful son (Abraham and Ishmael) 3 Assuredly We have created man in trouble. 4 Thinketh he that none hath power over him? 5 He shall say: I have wasted much wealth. 6 Thinketh he that none beholdeth him? 7 Have We not given him two eyes, 8 And a tongue and two lips, 9 and shown him the two highways [of good and evil]? 10 But he did not venture to scale the difficult steep. 11 And what will make you comprehend what the uphill road is? 12 (It is) the setting free of a slave, 13 Or giving food in a day of hunger (famine), 14 of an orphan near of kin, 15 or to a destitute lying in dust; 16 then that he become of those who believe and counsel each other to be steadfast, and counsel each other to be merciful. 17 These are the people of the right. 18 whereas those who are bent on denying the truth of Our messages - they are such as have lost themselves in evil, 19 with the Fire closed above them. 20