The City (Al-Balad)

In the name of Allah, Gracious, Merciful.

¹I do call to witness this city.

²And you are a freeman of this city.

³And parent and child.

⁴Verily, We have created man into toil and struggle.¹

⁵Does he think that none has power over him?

⁶He may say: “Wealth have I squandered in abundance!”

⁷Does he think that none beholds him?

⁸Have We not made for him a pair of eyes?

⁹And a tongue and a pair of lips?

¹⁰And shown him the two highways?

¹¹But he has made no haste on the path that is steep.

¹²And what will explain to you the path that is steep?

¹³Freeing the bondman;

¹⁴Or the giving of food in a day of privation.

¹⁵To the orphan with claims of relationship.

¹⁶Or to the indigent in the dust.

¹⁷Then will he be of those who believe and enjoin patience (constancy and self-restraint) and enjoin deeds of kindness and compassion.

¹⁸Such are the companions of the right hand.

¹⁹But those who reject Our signs they are the unhappy companions of the left hand.

²⁰On them will be fire vaulted over.

Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim

¹La uqsimu bihazal balad

²Wa antahilun bihazal balad

³Wa walidi wa ma walad

⁴Laqad halaqna linsana fi kabad

⁵Ayahsabu alayaqdira alaihi ahad

⁶Yaqulu ahlaku malal lubada

⁷Ayahsabu alam yarahu ahad

⁸Alam najal lahu ainain

⁹Wa lisana wa syafatain

¹⁰Wa hadainahu najdain

¹¹Falaqtahamal aqabah

¹²Wa ma adraka ma laqabah

¹³Faku raqabah

¹⁴Au itamun fi yaumin zi masgabah

¹⁵Yatiman za maqrabah

¹⁶Au miskinan za matrabah

¹⁷Summa kana minal lazina amanu wa tawasau bisabri wa tawasau bil marhamah

¹⁸Ulaika ashabul maimanah

¹⁹Wa lazina kafaru bi ayatinahum ashabul masamah

²⁰Alaihim naru musadat

1. God did not create man to struggle, that came about as a result of the man’s sin against God Almighty. Genesis 3:17-19 reads:

And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‛You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”