The Town (Al-Balad)
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace
۞ I swear by this city (Makkah); 1 this land in which thou art free to dwell 2 And the parent and the offspring, 3 Certainly We have created man to be in distress. 4 Does he think that none has power over him! 5 He shall say: I have wasted much wealth. 6 Does he think that none has observed him? 7 Did We not assign unto him two eyes 8 a tongue, and two lips, 9 and guided him on the two paths (of good and evil)? 10 But he could not scale the steep ascent. 11 And what could make thee conceive what it is, that steep uphill road? 12 (It is) Freeing a neck (slave, etc.) 13 or the feeding, upon a day of [one's own] hunger, 14 an orphaned relative 15 or to a destitute lying in dust; 16 and being, withal, of those who have attained to faith, and who enjoin upon one another patience in adversity, and enjoin upon one another compassion. 17 These are the people of the right. 18 As for those who disbelieve in Our revelations, they are the people of the left 19 [with] fire closing in upon them. 20