The Town (Al-Balad)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ I CALL THIS earth to witness -- 1 and you are dwelling in this city -- 2 and I swear by the parent and his offspring: 3 We have certainly created man into hardship. 4 Does he think that none has power over him! 5 He boasts, "I have spent wealth abundant!" 6 Thinketh 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 showed him two highways (of good and evil)? 10 But he hath made no haste on the path that is steep. 11 and what shall teach thee what is the steep? 12 (It is) to free a slave, 13 Or the feeding on a day of hunger. 14 Of a related orphan, 15 or of a needy [stranger] lying in the dust 16 And to be of those who believe and exhort one another to perseverance and exhort one another to pity. 17 Such are the Companions of the Right Hand. 18 And those who disbelieve Our signs - they are the fellows of the lefthand. 19 On them is fire closed over. 20