لَا أُقْسِمُ بِهَٰذَا الْبَلَدِ
NAY! I call to witness this land – (1)
وَأَنْتَ حِلٌّ بِهَٰذَا الْبَلَدِ
this land in which thou art free to dwell – (2)
وَوَالِدٍ وَمَا وَلَدَ
and [I call to witness] parent and offspring: (3)
لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ فِي كَبَدٍ
Verily, We have created man into [a life of] pain, toil, and trial. (4)
أَيَحْسَبُ أَنْ لَنْ يَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ أَحَدٌ
Does he, then, think that no one has power over him? (5)
يَقُولُ أَهْلَكْتُ مَالًا لُبَدًا
He boasts, "I have spent wealth abundant!" (6)
أَيَحْسَبُ أَنْ لَمْ يَرَهُ أَحَدٌ
Does he, then, think that no one sees him? (7)
أَلَمْ نَجْعَلْ لَهُ عَيْنَيْنِ
Have We not given him two eyes, (8)
وَلِسَانًا وَشَفَتَيْنِ
and a tongue, and a pair of lips, (9)
وَهَدَيْنَاهُ النَّجْدَيْنِ
and shown him the two highways [of good and evil]? (10)
فَلَا اقْتَحَمَ الْعَقَبَةَ
But he would not try to ascend the steep uphill road.... (11)
وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْعَقَبَةُ
And what could make thee conceive what it is, that steep uphill road? (12)
فَكُّ رَقَبَةٍ
[It is] the freeing of one's neck [from the burden of sin], (13)
أَوْ إِطْعَامٌ فِي يَوْمٍ ذِي مَسْغَبَةٍ
or the feeding, upon a day of [one's own] hunger, (14)
يَتِيمًا ذَا مَقْرَبَةٍ
of an orphan near of kin, (15)
أَوْ مِسْكِينًا ذَا مَتْرَبَةٍ
or of a needy [stranger] lying in the dust – (16)
ثُمَّ كَانَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْمَرْحَمَةِ
and being, withal, of those who have attained to faith, and who enjoin upon one another patience in adversity, and enjoin upon one another compassion. (17)
أُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ
Such are they that have attained to righteousness; (18)
وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِآيَاتِنَا هُمْ أَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ
whereas those who are bent on denying the truth of Our messages – they are such as have lost themselves in evil, (19)
عَلَيْهِمْ نَارٌ مُؤْصَدَةٌ
[with] fire closing in upon them. (20)
- - this land in which thou art free to dwell1
- 1 Lit., "while thou art dwelling in this land". The classical commentators give to the term balad the connotation of "city", and maintain that the phrase hadha 'l-balad ("this city") signifies Mecca, and that the pronoun "thou" in the second verse refers to Muhammad. Although this interpretation is plausible in view of the fact that the sacredness of Mecca is repeatedly stressed in the Qur'an, the sequence as well as the tenor of the whole surah - seems to warrant a wider, more general interpretation. In my opinion, the words hadha 'l-balad denote "this land of man", i.e., the earth (which latter term is, according to all philologists, one of the primary meanings of balad). Consequently, the "thou" in verse 2 relates to man in general, and that which is metaphorically "called to witness" is his earthly environment.
- And thou art a freeman6131 of this City;-
- 6131 Hillun: an inhabitant, a man with lawful rights, a man freed from such obligations as would attach to a stranger to the city, a freeman in a wider sense than the technical sense to which the word is restricted in modern usage. The Prophet should have been honoured in his native city. He was actually being persecuted. He should have been loved, as a parent loves a child. Actually his life was being sought, and those who believed in him were under a ban. But time was to show that he was to come triumphant to his native city after having made Madihah sacred by his life and work.
-
And thou art a freeman of this City;-
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
And thou art an indweller of this city -
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
And you shall be made free from obligation in this city--
— M. Habib Shakir -
And you are free (from sin, to punish the enemies of Islam on the Day of the conquest) in this city (Makkah),
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
And thou shalt be allowed in yonder city -
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
and you are a lodger in this country.
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
and thou art a lodger of this city __
— Ayub Khan -
And affirm that thou wilt, surely, alight in this City -
— Sher Ali -
this land in which thou art free to dwell –
— Muhammad Asad -
and thou art a lodger in this land;
— Arthur Arberry -
- this city wherein you have been rendered violable{{3}} -
— Abu'l Ala Maududi