The Town (Al-Balad)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ I swear by yonder city 1 And you, [O Muhammad], are free of restriction in this city - 2 and [I call to witness] parent and offspring: 3 that We have created the human being to face a great deal of hardship. 4 Does he, then, think that no one has power over him? 5 He says, "I have spent enormous wealth." 6 Deemest he that none beholdeth him? 7 Have We not made for him a pair of eyes? 8 And a tongue and two lips? 9 and shown him the two highways [of good and evil]? 10 But he hath made no haste on the path that is steep. 11 And what do you know what that difficult steep is? 12 (It is) Freeing a neck (slave, etc.) 13 Or, feeding, in a day of privation, 14 To the orphan with claims of relationship, 15 Or to the poor man lying in the dust. 16 so that he becomes one of those who believe, charge each other to be patient, and charge each other to be merciful. 17 Those are the Companions of the Right. 18 But those who disbelieve in Our verses, they are the Companions of the Left, 19 who will be engulfed in the fire. 20