البَلَدِ
- Meccan
- 20 verses
- Surah 90 of 114
Introduction to Surah Al-Balad
Twenty verses, Meccan, ninetieth in the written order. It swears by a city, and the city is Mecca — adding that the one being addressed is a resident of it, which in context means a man swearing by his own home town while being driven out of it.
The claim about life
Verily We have created man into toil and struggle. (90:4)
It is stated as a fact about the design rather than as a complaint. The surah then describes a man who thinks no one has power over him, and who boasts of having wasted piles of wealth, and asks whether he thinks no one sees him.
Against that it lists what he was given: two eyes, a tongue, two lips, and the showing of the two highways. The inventory is deliberately modest.
The steep path
And what will explain to thee the path that is steep?- (It is:) freeing the bondman; Or the giving of food in a day of privation To the orphan with claims of relationship, Or to the indigent (down) in the dust. (90:12–16)
The surah asks the question in its usual formula and then, unusually, answers it — and the answer is a short list of costly and unglamorous actions. There is nothing devotional in it. Freeing a slave, feeding someone on a day when food is scarce, and doing it for an orphan who is a relative or a poor man lying in the dust.
The surah adds one more item after the list: and to be of those who believe and enjoin patience on one another and enjoin compassion.
How it ends
On the observation that these are the companions of the right hand, and that those who reject the signs are the companions of the left, and that over them is fire closed in on them. It is a short and unadorned close to a surah that has just defined righteousness almost entirely as expenditure.
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيم
لَآ أُقْسِمُ بِهَٰذَا ٱلْبَلَدِ
Laaa uqsimu bihaazal balad
I do call to witness this City;-
Nay, I swear by this city –
وَأَنتَ حِلٌّۢ بِهَٰذَا ٱلْبَلَدِ
Wa anta hillum bihaazal balad
And thou art a freeman of this City;-
And thou art an indweller of this city –
وَوَالِدٍۢ وَمَا وَلَدَ
Wa waalidinw wa maa walad
And (the mystic ties of) parent and child;-
And the begetter and that which he begat,
لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ فِى كَبَدٍ
Laqad khalaqnal insaana fee kabad
Verily We have created man into toil and struggle.
We verily have created man in an atmosphere:
أَيَحْسَبُ أَن لَّن يَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ أَحَدٌۭ
Ayahsabu al-lai yaqdira ‘alaihi ahad
Thinketh he, that none hath power over him?
Thinketh he that none hath power over him?
يَقُولُ أَهْلَكْتُ مَالًۭا لُّبَدًا
Yaqoolu ahlaktu maalal lubadaa
He may say (boastfully); Wealth have I squandered in abundance!
And he saith: I have destroyed vast wealth:
أَيَحْسَبُ أَن لَّمْ يَرَهُۥٓ أَحَدٌ
Ayahsabu al lam yarahooo ahad
Thinketh he that none beholdeth him?
Thinketh he that none beholdeth him?
أَلَمْ نَجْعَل لَّهُۥ عَيْنَيْنِ
Alam naj’al lahoo ‘aynayn
Have We not made for him a pair of eyes?-
Did We not assign unto him two eyes
وَلِسَانًۭا وَشَفَتَيْنِ
Wa lisaananw wa shafatayn
And a tongue, and a pair of lips?-
And a tongue and two lips,
وَهَدَيْنَٰهُ ٱلنَّجْدَيْنِ
Wa hadaynaahun najdayn
And shown him the two highways?
And guide him to the parting of the mountain ways?
فَلَا ٱقْتَحَمَ ٱلْعَقَبَةَ
Falaq tahamal-‘aqabah
But he hath made no haste on the path that is steep.
But he hath not attempted the Ascent –
وَمَآ أَدْرَىٰكَ مَا ٱلْعَقَبَةُ
Wa maaa adraaka mal’aqabah
And what will explain to thee the path that is steep?-
Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Ascent is! –
فَكُّ رَقَبَةٍ
Fakku raqabah
(It is:) freeing the bondman;
(It is) to free a slave,
أَوْ إِطْعَٰمٌۭ فِى يَوْمٍۢ ذِى مَسْغَبَةٍۢ
Aw it’aamun fee yawmin zee masghabah
Or the giving of food in a day of privation
And to feed in the day of hunger.
يَتِيمًۭا ذَا مَقْرَبَةٍ
Yateeman zaa maqrabah
To the orphan with claims of relationship,
An orphan near of kin,
أَوْ مِسْكِينًۭا ذَا مَتْرَبَةٍۢ
Aw miskeenan zaa matrabah
Or to the indigent (down) in the dust.
Or some poor wretch in misery,
ثُمَّ كَانَ مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلصَّبْرِ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلْمَرْحَمَةِ
Summa kaana minal lazeena aamanoo wa tawaasaw bissabri wa tawaasaw bilmarhamah
Then will he be of those who believe, and enjoin patience, (constancy, and self-restraint), and enjoin deeds of kindness and compassion.
And to be of those who believe and exhort one another to perseverance and exhort one another to pity.
أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ أَصْحَٰبُ ٱلْمَيْمَنَةِ
Ulaaa’ika As-haabul maimanah
Such are the Companions of the Right Hand.
Their place will be on the right hand.
وَٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَا هُمْ أَصْحَٰبُ ٱلْمَشْـَٔمَةِ
Wallazeena kafaroo bi aayaatinaa hum as-haabul Mash’amah
But those who reject Our Signs, they are the (unhappy) Companions of the Left Hand.
But those who disbelieve Our revelations, their place will be on the left hand.
عَلَيْهِمْ نَارٌۭ مُّؤْصَدَةٌۢ
Alaihim naarum mu’sadah
On them will be Fire vaulted over (all round).
Fire will be an awning over them.
Sources. Arabic text: Tanzil Uthmani edition. Translations: Abdullah Yusuf Ali (original edition, 1934–1938) and Marmaduke Pickthall (1930), both in the public domain. Any introduction above is original writing and is not part of any translation.