Al-Balad البلد

Makki · 20 ayat · 20 with pondering

• Ayah 1The surah opens with a jolt, 'No, I swear', then swears by a bare valley of rock honoured only by what Allah placed there.
• Ayah 2In the valley where even a bird was safe, only his life was fair game, and the oath promised the city would open to him.
• Ayah 3After the city comes the oath by the ones who live in it: a parent, and the wonder that a parent brings into the world.
• Ayah 4Everything sworn so far arrives at one plain truth: struggle is not a fault in your life, but the room you were created in.
• Ayah 5He stood on a hide and dared ten men to move him; did he think that no one at all had power over him?
• Ayah 6He boasts of the fortune he 'destroyed', and never notices that his own verb has told the truth about it.
• Ayah 7He spent to be seen by everyone, and forgot the only One who saw exactly what he spent and why.
• Ayah 8The man who thought no one saw him is asked a simple question about his own face: who gave you the eyes you see with?
• Ayah 9One tongue and two lips: the tool he boasted with was a gift, and it came with its own doors.
• Ayah 10Both roads stand out on the high ground in plain sight; the choice was never hidden from him, only the climb is hard.
• Ayah 11He had eyes, a tongue and two clear roads, and still he never threw himself at the steep pass.
• Ayah 12The drumroll the Quran keeps for the Day of Judgement and the Night of Decree sounds again here, and it lands on freeing and feeding.
• Ayah 13The first foothold on the steep road is not a prayer but a key: loosing a neck that someone else has bound.
• Ayah 14Feeding people is good on any day; the steep road is feeding them on the day when food is scarce and you are hungry too.
• Ayah 15Of all the hungry, the ayah first points to the orphan in your own family: the one closest to you, and the easiest to overlook.
• Ayah 16The last face on the steep road has nothing between him and the dust, and the ayah makes you look down to see him.
• Ayah 17Above the freeing and the feeding sits faith, circled by people who keep urging one another to hold firm and to be kind.
• Ayah 18Those who climbed are named for the right hand: the hand of strength, of a sealed pledge, and of blessing for everyone around them.
• Ayah 19Those who covered Our signs are named for the left: the side the Arabs dreaded for bad luck, now a misfortune earned, not feared.
• Ayah 20The surah that opened on a city safe for every bird ends with a door shut tight; between them, a steep road stood open.