The Town (Al-Balad)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ I swear by yonder city 1 And you shall be made free from obligation in this city-- 2 And by oath of your forefather Ibrahim, and by you – his illustrious son! 3 We verily have created man in an atmosphere: 4 Does he think that no one has power over him? 5 He shall say: I have wasted much wealth. 6 Deemest he that none beholdeth him? 7 Did We not assign unto him two eyes 8 And a tongue, and a pair of lips?- 9 and shown him the two highways [of good and evil]? 10 But he could not scale the steep ascent. 11 And what do you know what that difficult steep is? 12 The freeing of a slave, 13 or the feeding, upon a day of [one's own] hunger, 14 To an orphan, having relationship, 15 or to a needy person in distress; 16 so that he becomes one of those who believe, charge each other to be patient, and charge each other to be merciful. 17 They are those on the Right Hand (the dwellers of Paradise), 18 and [as for] those who are bent on denying the truth of Our revelations, they are the people of the left hand, 19 The Fire will vault them over. 20