Surah “The City, This Countryside”

I swear by this city (Mecca)

(O My Esteemed Beloved,) because you are residing in it.

(O My Esteemed Beloved!) By (your) father (Adam or Ibrahim [Abraham]) and by those who are born,

Indeed, We have created man (ever suffering) in rigours

Does he think that no one can ever overpower him

(Boasting,) he says: ‘I have spent heaps of wealth.

Does he think that no one has seen him (making this extravagant spending)

Have We not made for him two eyes

And (have We not given him) a tongue and two lips

And (have We also not) shown him the two highways (of good and evil)

But he has not yet attempted the steep ascent (of the Din [Religion]) of truth and the practical life dedicated to good and piety)

And what have you thought of the steep ascent (of the rigours of the Din [Religion] of truth)

It is freeing a neck (from slavery and subjugation)

Or feeding on a day of scarcity (the poor and the needy during famine and scarcity i.e., striving to put an end to their sufferings and economic crises)

The orphaned relative

Or the poverty-stricken destitute who is completely rundown (and homeless)

(Provided this striving soul is) one of those who believe and advise one another patience and tolerance and urge one another for mutual affection and mercy

These are the people of the Right Hand (i.e., the privileged and the pardoned)

And those who reject Our signs are the people of the Left Hand (the callous and the doomed)

Fire will be enclosed upon them (covering from all sides)