Surah 90 · Meccan · 20 Verses
البلد
SURAH AL-BALAD
The City
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
لَآ أُقْسِمُ بِهَٰذَا ٱلْبَلَدِ
I swear by this city [i.e., Makkah] –
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وَأَنتَ حِلٌّۢ بِهَٰذَا ٱلْبَلَدِ
And you, [O Muḥammad], are free of restriction in this city –
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لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ فِى كَبَدٍ
We have certainly created man into hardship.
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أَيَحْسَبُ أَن لَّن يَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ أَحَدٌۭ
Does he think that never will anyone overcome him?
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يَقُولُ أَهْلَكْتُ مَالًۭا لُّبَدًا
He says, "I have spent wealth in abundance."
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أَيَحْسَبُ أَن لَّمْ يَرَهُۥٓ أَحَدٌ
Does he think that no one has seen him?
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أَلَمْ نَجْعَل لَّهُۥ عَيْنَيْنِ
Have We not made for him two eyes?
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وَلِسَانًۭا وَشَفَتَيْنِ
And a tongue and two lips?
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فَلَا ٱقْتَحَمَ ٱلْعَقَبَةَ
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وَمَآ أَدْرَىٰكَ مَا ٱلْعَقَبَةُ
And what can make you know what is [breaking through] the difficult pass?
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فَكُّ رَقَبَةٍ
It is the freeing of a slave
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أَوْ إِطْعَٰمٌۭ فِى يَوْمٍۢ ذِى مَسْغَبَةٍۢ
Or feeding on a day of severe hunger
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يَتِيمًۭا ذَا مَقْرَبَةٍ
An orphan of near relationship
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أَوْ مِسْكِينًۭا ذَا مَتْرَبَةٍۢ
Or a needy person in misery
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ثُمَّ كَانَ مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلصَّبْرِ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلْمَرْحَمَةِ
And then being among those who believed and advised one another to patience and advised one another to compassion.
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أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ أَصْحَٰبُ ٱلْمَيْمَنَةِ
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وَٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَا هُمْ أَصْحَٰبُ ٱلْمَشْـَٔمَةِ
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About This Surah
Surah Al-Balad places human life within struggle and challenges confidence built on spending and power. It points to eyes, tongue and lips as gifts and presents the steep path: freeing a person from bondage, feeding during hunger, caring for an orphan relative or a destitute person, and joining faith with mutual counsel to patience and mercy.
The surah swears by the city and invokes parent and child before declaring that human beings are created into struggle. Difficulty is not romanticized, nor is it proof of failure. The arrogant speaker who claims to have consumed great wealth is asked whether no one sees.
Gifts of perception and speech are recalled: two eyes, a tongue and two lips, along with two paths. Yet recognizing options does not mean the steep ascent has been attempted.
The surah explains that ascent in social and moral terms. It includes freeing a person from bondage and feeding on a day of hunger—especially an orphan near of kin or a destitute person in misery. These actions are joined to faith and to mutual counsel in patience and mercy.
The ending contrasts companions of the right with those who reject the signs. The chapter’s measure of achievement is not public expenditure alone, but costly liberation, nourishment, faithful community and mercy.
For a first reading, follow the movement from “City, struggle and arrogant spending” to “Two outcomes.” On a second pass, pause at 90:8–10 and ask how the theme “Human life includes real struggle” informs “Power and spending do not escape divine sight.” This method keeps the chapter’s sequence visible, connects belief with conduct and prevents a memorable image from being detached from its surrounding argument. It also separates the verses’ direct claims from later explanations that need their own evidence.
Core Themes
- Human life includes real struggle
- Power and spending do not escape divine sight
- Speech and perception create responsibility
- Freedom and food are central moral tests
- Patience and mercy are communal practices
Structure
Verses 1-7: city, struggle and arrogant spending — 1-7
This section follows city, struggle and arrogant spending across verses 1-7. Read it within Al-Balad’s complete sequence; the passage does not independently create a private ruling, diagnosis, prediction, punishment power, fixed ritual, or guaranteed worldly outcome.
Verses 8-10: gifts and two paths — 8-10
This section follows gifts and two paths across verses 8-10. Read it within Al-Balad’s complete sequence; the passage does not independently create a private ruling, diagnosis, prediction, punishment power, fixed ritual, or guaranteed worldly outcome.
Verses 11-18: the steep ascent of liberation and care — 11-18
This section follows the steep ascent of liberation and care across verses 11-18. Read it within Al-Balad’s complete sequence; the passage does not independently create a private ruling, diagnosis, prediction, punishment power, fixed ritual, or guaranteed worldly outcome.
Verses 19-20: two outcomes — 19-20
This section follows two outcomes across verses 19-20. Read it within Al-Balad’s complete sequence; the passage does not independently create a private ruling, diagnosis, prediction, punishment power, fixed ritual, or guaranteed worldly outcome.
Reading Guide
Context-focused reading step 1
Ask why claimed spending in 90:6 differs from the steep path in 90:11–16. Keep this boundary visible: Do not glorify suffering or deny the need to relieve it. Compare the passage with the complete surah before drawing a contemporary, legal, medical, scientific, or devotional conclusion.
Context-focused reading step 2
Keep faith, action and mutual counsel together. Keep this boundary visible: Do not reduce freeing a person to metaphor when the verse names a concrete act. Compare the passage with the complete surah before drawing a contemporary, legal, medical, scientific, or devotional conclusion.
Context-focused reading step 3
Let the named beneficiaries prevent a purely abstract reading of mercy. Keep this boundary visible: Do not present charity as a guaranteed route to wealth. Compare the passage with the complete surah before drawing a contemporary, legal, medical, scientific, or devotional conclusion.
Key Passages
Struggle and boastful wealth — 4-7
Verses 4-7 address struggle and boastful wealth. Their placement in Al-Balad supplies the immediate context; this overview identifies the movement without turning it into a stand-alone legal ruling, clinical diagnosis, current-event prediction, private enforcement authority, fixed recitation formula, or guaranteed worldly result.
Eyes, tongue, lips and paths — 8-10
Verses 8-10 address eyes, tongue, lips and paths. Their placement in Al-Balad supplies the immediate context; this overview identifies the movement without turning it into a stand-alone legal ruling, clinical diagnosis, current-event prediction, private enforcement authority, fixed recitation formula, or guaranteed worldly result.
The steep path — 11-16
Verses 11-16 address the steep path. Their placement in Al-Balad supplies the immediate context; this overview identifies the movement without turning it into a stand-alone legal ruling, clinical diagnosis, current-event prediction, private enforcement authority, fixed recitation formula, or guaranteed worldly result.
Faith, patience and mercy — 17-20
Verses 17-20 address faith, patience and mercy. Their placement in Al-Balad supplies the immediate context; this overview identifies the movement without turning it into a stand-alone legal ruling, clinical diagnosis, current-event prediction, private enforcement authority, fixed recitation formula, or guaranteed worldly result.
Recitation Note
This editorial draft does not prescribe an exclusive time, repetition count, guaranteed protection, healing, provision or other worldly result for reciting Surah Al-Balad. Add a devotional-practice note only after the exact hadith collection, canonical numbering, grading and claim wording have been checked and registered.
Interpretation Limits
- Do not glorify suffering or deny the need to relieve it.
- Do not reduce freeing a person to metaphor when the verse names a concrete act.
- Do not present charity as a guaranteed route to wealth.