The Town (Al-Balad)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ I swear by this city (Makkah); 1 And you are free to live upon it, -- 2 by the begetter, and that he begot, 3 Verily We have created man into toil and hardship. 4 Does he think that never will anyone overcome him? 5 And he saith: I have destroyed vast wealth: 6 Does he think that no one sees him? 7 Have We not given him two eyes, 8 And a tongue and two lips? 9 Have We not shown him the ways of good and evil? 10 But he did not venture to scale the difficult steep. 11 How will you comprehend what the Steep ascent is? -- 12 It is the freeing of a slave 13 Or the feeding on a day of hunger. 14 An orphan, of kin, 15 or to a needy person in distress; 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 These are the people of the right hand. 18 As for those who rejected Our Signs, they are the People of the Left Hand. 19 Fire will be an awning over them. 20