The Town (Al-Balad)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ I swear by this city (Mecca) – 1 and you are a lodger in this country. 2 And the begetter and whom he begot. 3 Certainly We have created man to be in distress. 4 Does he think then that no one has power over him? 5 He shall say: I have wasted much wealth. 6 Thinks he that none sees him? 7 Did We not assign unto him two eyes 8 a tongue, and two lips, 9 and guided him on the two highways? 10 So he did not quickly enter the steep valley. 11 And what will explain to thee the path that is steep?- 12 It is freeing the neck, 13 or, in a day of famine, the feeding of 14 of an orphan near of kin, 15 Or a needy person in misery 16 Then he became one of those who believed, and recommended one another to perseverance and patience, and (also) recommended one another to pity and compassion. 17 Those are the Companions of the Right. 18 and [as for] those who are bent on denying the truth of Our revelations, they are the people of the left hand, 19 On them is fire closed over. 20