البلد

١NAY! I call to witness this land –

٢this land in which thou art free to dwell -

٣and [I call to witness] parent and offspring:

٤Verily, We have created man into [a life of] pain, toil and trial.

٥Does he, then, think that no one has power over him?

٦He boasts, "I have spent wealth abundant!"

٧Does he, then, think that no one sees him?

٨Have We not given him two eyes,

٩and a tongue, and a pair of lips,

١٠and shown him the two highways [of good and evil]?

١١But he would not try to ascend the steep uphill road...

١٢And what could make thee conceive what it is, that steep uphill road?

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

١٤or the feeding, upon a day of [one's own] hunger,

١٥of an orphan near of kin,

١٦or of a needy [stranger] lying in the dust –

١٧and being, withal, of those who have attained to faith, and who enjoin upon one another patience in adversity, and enjoin upon one another compassion.

١٨Such are they that have attained to righteousness;

١٩whereas those who are bent on denying the truth of Our messages – they are such as have lost themselves in evil,

٢٠[with] fire closing in upon them.