Surah Al-Balad — Word by Word
البلد
The City
Explanations are simplified from tafsirs by Ibn Kathir, Mufti Muhammad Shafi, and Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. Spot an inaccuracy? Let us know.
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
lā uq'simu bihādhā l-baladi
I swear by this city [i.e., Makkah]
wa-anta ḥillun bihādhā l-baladi
And you, [O Muḥammad], are free of restriction in this city
wawālidin wamā walada
And [by] the father and that which was born [of him],
laqad khalaqnā l-insāna fī kabadin
We have certainly created man into hardship.
ayaḥsabu an lan yaqdira ʿalayhi aḥadun
Does he think that never will anyone overcome him?
yaqūlu ahlaktu mālan lubadan
He says, "I have spent wealth in abundance."
ayaḥsabu an lam yarahu aḥadun
Does he think that no one has seen him?
alam najʿal lahu ʿaynayni
Have We not made for him two eyes?
walisānan washafatayni
And a tongue and two lips?
wahadaynāhu l-najdayni
And have shown him the two ways?
falā iq'taḥama l-ʿaqabata
But he has not broken through the difficult pass.
wamā adrāka mā l-ʿaqabatu
And what can make you know what is [breaking through] the difficult pass?
fakku raqabatin
It is the freeing of a slave
aw iṭ'ʿāmun fī yawmin dhī masghabatin
Or feeding on a day of severe hunger
yatīman dhā maqrabatin
An orphan of near relationship
aw mis'kīnan dhā matrabatin
Or a needy person in misery
thumma kāna mina alladhīna āmanū watawāṣaw bil-ṣabri watawāṣaw bil-marḥamati
And then being among those who believed and advised one another to patience and advised one another to compassion.
ulāika aṣḥābu l-maymanati
Those are the companions of the right.
wa-alladhīna kafarū biāyātinā hum aṣḥābu l-mashamati
But they who disbelieved in Our signs - those are the companions of the left.
ʿalayhim nārun mu'ṣadatun
Over them will be fire closed in.