English - Chapter 90 - Al-Balad

NAY! I call to witness this land –

this land in which thou art free to dwell

and [I call to witness] parent and offspring

Verily, We have created man into [a life of] pain, toil and trial

Does he, then, think that no one has power over him

He boasts, "I have spent wealth abundant

Have We not given him two eyes

and a tongue, and a pair of lips

and shown him the two highways [of good and evil]

But he would not try to ascend the steep uphill road

And what could make thee conceive what it is, that steep uphill road

[It is] the freeing of one's neck [from the burden of sin]

or the feeding, upon a day of [one's own] hunger

of an orphan near of kin

or of a needy [stranger] lying in the dust –

and being, withal, of those who have attained to faith, and who enjoin upon one another patience in adversity, and enjoin upon one another compassion

Such are they that have attained to righteousness

whereas those who are bent on denying the truth of Our messages – they are such as have lost themselves in evil

[with] fire closing in upon them