Al-Balad

I swear by this city, Makkah -

lā uq'simu bihādhā l-baladi

And you, [O Muhammad], are free of restriction in this city -

wa-anta ḥillun bihādhā l-baladi

And [by] the father and that which was born [of him],

wawālidin wamā walada

We have certainly created man into hardship.

laqad khalaqnā l-insāna fī kabadin

Does he think that never will anyone overcome him?

ayaḥsabu an lan yaqdira ʿalayhi aḥadun

He says, "I have spent wealth in abundance."

yaqūlu ahlaktu mālan lubadan

Does he think that no one has seen him?

ayaḥsabu an lam yarahu aḥadun

Have We not made for him two eyes?

alam najʿal lahu ʿaynayni

And a tongue and two lips?

walisānan washafatayni

And have shown him the two ways?

wahadaynāhu l-najdayni

But he has not broken through the difficult pass.

falā iq'taḥama l-ʿaqabata

And what can make you know what is [breaking through] the difficult pass?

wamā adrāka mā l-ʿaqabatu

It is the freeing of a slave

fakku raqabatin

Or feeding on a day of severe hunger

aw iṭ'ʿāmun fī yawmin dhī masghabatin

An orphan of near relationship

yatīman dhā maqrabatin

Or a needy person in misery

aw mis'kīnan dhā matrabatin

And then being among those who believed and advised one another to patience and advised one another to compassion.

thumma kāna mina alladhīna āmanū watawāṣaw bil-ṣabri watawāṣaw bil-marḥamati

Those are the companions of the right.

ulāika aṣḥābu l-maymanati

But they who disbelieved in Our signs - those are the companions of the left.

wa-alladhīna kafarū biāyātinā hum aṣḥābu l-mashamati

Over them will be fire closed in.

ʿalayhim nārun mu'ṣadatun