| | Al-muntakhab fi tafsir al-Qur'an al-Karim rendition of Surah The City, This Countryside(al-Balad)
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| 90:1 | | I swear by this sacred town -Macca |
| 90:2 | | In which you are being an inhabitant, the town which in due time shall open to you its gates and deliver to you O Muhammad its key to accomplish what you will, respected, vindicated and venerated |
| 90:3 | | And I swear by the father –Adam- or –Ibrahim (Abraham)- and what he procreated |
| 90:4 | | That We created man and set him on earth wherein he strives and struggles from womb to tomb, each according to his disposition and inclination and whether he will acknowledge resurrection and adjudication |
| 90:5 | | Does he think no one can overpower him or he will not be called to account |
| 90:6 | | He boastfully says: "I spent too much money", when it was not for a good cause |
| 90:7 | | Does he think no one could see him, not even Allah |
| 90:8 | | Have We not given him a pair of eyes for vision |
| 90:9 | | A tongue and a pair of lips for eating and talking and pronouncing a decision |
| 90:10 | | We showed him both paths, that of virtue and that of vice |
| 90:11 | | Yet he has not been eager to challenge his way through the path of virtue and attempt the difficult path of overcoming self-interest |
| 90:12 | | And you just do not know what the difficult path of overcoming self- interest |
| 90:13 | | It is the freeing of a slave |
| 90:14 | | Or feeding one in need on a day of privation |
| 90:15 | | Such as an orphan of your kin or blood-relatio |
| 90:16 | | Or an indigent who is in dire need |
| 90:17 | | Besides being one of those characterized by piety in every deed, who enjoin forbearance under provocation, bear with others their faults and limitations and enjoin endurance of pain, trouble or evil and constancy in labour, exertion or effort and show compassion toward suffering fellow-creatures, being disposed to forgive and exercise mercy |
| 90:18 | | Such persons have rightfully earned the seat on the right |
| 90:19 | | But those who rejected Allah and His authoritative signs and divine revelations are the ill-omened who have deservedly earned the awkward position on the left |
| 90:20 | | Who are destined to be exposed to a perpetual fire in closed cells where there is no escape and of all hope they are bereft |
