The Town (Al-Balad)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ I CALL THIS earth to witness -- 1 And you are free to live upon it, -- 2 and by parent and offspring, 3 Verily, We have created man in toil. 4 Does he think that no one has power over him? 5 He says: “I have squandered enormous wealth.” 6 Thinketh he that none beholdeth him? 7 Did We not grant him two eyes, 8 a tongue, and two lips? 9 And did We not show him the two highroads (of good and evil)? 10 But he did not venture to scale the difficult steep. 11 And what will make you know the path that is steep? 12 It is the setting free of a slave 13 or the feeding in times of famine 14 An orphan, of kin, 15 Or the poor in distress; 16 Then he became of those who believed and enjoined on each other steadfastness and enjoined on each other compassion. 17 Those are the Companions of the Right. 18 But those who disbelieve in Our verses, they are the Companions of the Left, 19 over them is a Fire covered down. 20