The Town (Al-Balad)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ I swear by yonder city 1 and you are a lodger in this country. 2 And the parent and the offspring, 3 Verily, We have created man into [a life of] pain, toil and trial. 4 Does He think that no one will ever have control over him? 5 He boasts, "I have spent wealth abundant!" 6 Does he, then, 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 guide him to the two elevated things? 10 Yet he attempteth not the steep, 11 And what could make thee conceive what it is, that steep uphill road? 12 (It is) to free a slave, 13 the giving of food upon the day of hunger 14 to an orphan near of kin 15 Or a poor man cleaving to 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 Their place will be on the right hand. 18 whereas those who are bent on denying the truth of Our messages - they are such as have lost themselves in evil, 19 with the Fire closed above them. 20