The Town (Al-Balad)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Nay! I swear by this city 1 And you, [O Muhammad], are free of restriction in this city - 2 And [by] the father and that which was born [of him], 3 That We created man in toil and trouble. 4 Thinks he that none can overcome him? 5 He says: "I have wasted a great deal of wealth." 6 Does he think that none has observed him? 7 Did We not grant him two eyes, 8 And a tongue and two lips, 9 And shown unto him the two highways? 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 a slave, 13 Or giving food in a day of hunger (famine), 14 To an orphan near of kin. 15 or to a needy person in distress; 16 And to be of those who believe and exhort one another to perseverance and exhort one another to pity. 17 Those who do so are the people of the right hand, 18 But they who disbelieved in Our signs - those are the companions of the left. 19 and the Fire will close in on them. 20