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 the parent and the offspring, 3 We have certainly created man into hardship. 4 Does he think that no one has power over him? 5 He boasts, "I have spent wealth abundant!" 6 Deemest he that none beholdeth him? 7 Have We not made for 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 has not broken through the difficult pass. 11 And what do you know what that difficult steep is? 12 (It is) the setting free of a slave, 13 Or the giving of food in a day of hunger 14 to an orphan near of kin 15 Or some poor wretch in misery, 16 And to be of those who believe, and urge upon one another to persevere, and urge upon each other to be kind. 17 Those are the Companions of the Right Hand. 18 and [as for] those who are bent on denying the truth of Our revelations, they are the people of the left hand, 19 and the Fire will close in on them. 20