The Town (Al-Balad)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ I swear by yonder city 1 and you are a lodger in this country. 2 And by the giver of birth, and whom he fathered, 3 Certainly We have created man to be in distress. 4 Does he think then that no one has power over him? 5 He may say (boastfully); Wealth have I squandered in abundance! 6 Thinketh he that none beholdeth him? 7 Have We not given him two eyes, 8 And a tongue and a pair of lips? 9 And shown unto him the two highways? 10 But he would not attempt the uphill road, 11 And what do you know what that difficult steep is? 12 (It is) Freeing a neck (slave, etc.) 13 Or the giving of food in a day of hunger 14 An orphan near of kin, 15 Or the poor in distress; 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 But those who deny Our revelations are the people of the left hand: 19 Over them will be fire closed in. 20