The Town (Al-Balad)
Allah - beginning with the name of - the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ No! I swear by this land, 1 in which you are now living 2 And the parent and the offspring, 3 Verily, We have created man in toil. 4 Does He think that no one will ever have control over him? 5 He shall say: I have wasted much 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 And did We not show him the two highroads (of good and evil)? 10 But he would not try to ascend the steep uphill road... 11 And what do you know what that difficult steep is? 12 [It is] the freeing of one's neck [from the burden of sin,] 13 Or giving food in a day of hunger (famine), 14 of an orphan near of kin, 15 Or to the poor man lying in the dust. 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 disbelieve Our revelations, their place will be on the left hand. 19 Upon them is a fire, in which they are imprisoned, closed and shut above them. 20