90:1
لَاۤ اُقْسِمُ بِهٰذَا الْبَلَدِ
I swear by this city [i.e., Makkah] –
Surah 90 of 114 · Makkah · Juz 30
Surah Al-Balad
The City
البلد20 ayahs
Revealed in Makkah
Translation: Saheeh International
About Surah Al-Balad
The opening oath here is by a place, this city (90:1), meaning Makkah, and that is where the name Al-Balad comes from. The next ayah adds that the Prophet is free of restriction in it (90:2). The surah is Makkan, twenty ayahs, and its claim is stated in the fourth: man was created into hardship (90:4). Everything after that asks what a person does with the hardship, and with the means he was handed before he had earned anything.
A boaster appears first, saying he has spent wealth in abundance (90:6), and is asked whether he imagines nobody saw him (90:7). Then a short count of what he was given for free: two eyes, a tongue and two lips, and the two ways shown to him (90:8, 90:9, 90:10). The centre of the surah is the steep path he has not attempted (90:11, 90:12), and it is defined in plain actions rather than feelings: freeing a slave, or feeding on a day of severe hunger an orphan who is a near relative or a needy person in misery, and then being among those who believe and counsel one another to patience and to compassion (90:13 to 90:17). Those are the companions of the right; those who rejected the signs are the companions of the left, with fire closed over them (90:18, 90:19, 90:20).
بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِ
90:2
وَاَنْتَ حِلٌّۢ بِهٰذَا الْبَلَدِ
And you, [O Muḥammad], are free of restriction in this city –
90:3
وَوَالِدٍ وَّمَا وَلَدَ
And [by] the father and that which was born [of him],
90:4
لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْاِنْسَانَ فِیْ كَبَدٍ ۟ؕ
We have certainly created man into hardship.
90:5
اَیَحْسَبُ اَنْ لَّنْ یَّقْدِرَ عَلَیْهِ اَحَدٌ
Does he think that never will anyone overcome him?
90:6
یَقُوْلُ اَهْلَكْتُ مَالًا لُّبَدًا ۟ؕ
He says, "I have spent wealth in abundance."
90:7
اَیَحْسَبُ اَنْ لَّمْ یَرَهٗۤ اَحَدٌ ۟ؕ
Does he think that no one has seen him?
90:8
اَلَمْ نَجْعَلْ لَّهٗ عَیْنَیْنِ
Have We not made for him two eyes?
90:9
وَلِسَانًا وَّشَفَتَیْنِ
And a tongue and two lips?
90:10
وَهَدَیْنٰهُ النَّجْدَیْنِ
And have shown him the two ways?
90:11
فَلَا اقْتَحَمَ الْعَقَبَةَ ۟ؗۖ
But he has not broken through the difficult pass.
90:12
وَمَاۤ اَدْرٰىكَ مَا الْعَقَبَةُ ۟ؕ
And what can make you know what is [breaking through] the difficult pass?
90:13
فَكُّ رَقَبَةٍ
It is the freeing of a slave
90:14
اَوْ اِطْعٰمٌ فِیْ یَوْمٍ ذِیْ مَسْغَبَةٍ
Or feeding on a day of severe hunger
90:15
یَّتِیْمًا ذَا مَقْرَبَةٍ
An orphan of near relationship
90:16
اَوْ مِسْكِیْنًا ذَا مَتْرَبَةٍ ۟ؕ
Or a needy person in misery
90:17
ثُمَّ كَانَ مِنَ الَّذِیْنَ اٰمَنُوْا وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْمَرْحَمَةِ ۟ؕ
And then being among those who believed and advised one another to patience and advised one another to compassion.
90:18
اُولٰٓىِٕكَ اَصْحٰبُ الْمَیْمَنَةِ ۟ؕ
Those are the companions of the right.
90:19
وَالَّذِیْنَ كَفَرُوْا بِاٰیٰتِنَا هُمْ اَصْحٰبُ الْمَشْـَٔمَةِ ۟ؕ
But they who disbelieved in Our signs - those are the companions of the left.
90:20
عَلَیْهِمْ نَارٌ مُّؤْصَدَةٌ
Over them will be fire closed in.
Surah Al-Balad in the Quran, with the Arabic in IndoPak Nastaleeq, 20 ayahs, translation, word by word meaning and recitation. Recite it offline on your phone with the free Android app.