90. Sūrat al-Balad

٩٠۔ سُورَةُ البَـلـَد

Qurʾān > Chapter 90
القرآن > كتاب ٩٠

The City (Meccan)

quran:90:1 – In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

I swear by this city, Makkah -  

I swear (lā is extra) by this land, of Mecca,
القرآن:٩٠:١ – بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

لَا أُقْسِمُ بِهَٰذَا الْبَلَدِ  

{لا} زائدة {أقسم بهذا البلد} مكة.
quran:90:2 –

And you, ˹O Muhammad˺, are free of restriction in this city -  

and you, O Muhammad (s), have free disposal of, sanction for, this land, in that you will be given permission to fight in it — and indeed God fulfilled this promise to him on the day of the Conquest ˹of Mecca˺ (thus this is a parenthetical statement intervening between that by which the oath has been sworn and that which is a supplement thereto).
القرآن:٩٠:٢ –

وَأَنْتَ حِلٌّ بِهَٰذَا الْبَلَدِ  

{وأنت} يا محمد {حِلٌ} حلال {بهذا البلد} بأن يحل لك فتقاتل فيه، وقد أنجز الله له هذا الوعد يوم الفتح، فالجملة اعتراض بين المقسم به وما عطف عليه.
quran:90:3 –

And ˹by˺ the father and that which was born ˹of him˺,  

And ˹by˺ the begetter, that is, Adam, and that which he begat, that is, his descendants (mā, ‘that which’, ˹actually˺ means man, ‘whom’).
القرآن:٩٠:٣ –

وَوَالِدٍ وَمَا وَلَدَ  

{ووالد} أي آدم {وما ولد} أي ذريته وما بمعنى من.
quran:90:4 –

We have certainly created man into hardship.  

We certainly created man (al-insān: the generic noun) in travail, in ˹a state of˺ toil and hardship, struggling with the tribulations of this world and the calamities of the Hereafter.
القرآن:٩٠:٤ –

لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ فِي كَبَدٍ  

{لقد خلقنا الإنسان} أي الجنس {في كبد} نصب وشدة يكابد مصائب الدنيا وشدائد الآخرة.
quran:90:5 –

Does he think that never will anyone overcome him?  

Does he suppose, does the strong man of Quraysh, namely, Abū’l-Ashadd b. Kalada, presume, on account of his strength, that (an: softened in place of the hardened form, its subject omitted, that is to say, annahu) no one will have power over him? Yet God has power over him.
القرآن:٩٠:٥ –

أَيَحْسَبُ أَنْ لَنْ يَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ أَحَدٌ  

{أيحسب} أيظن الإنسان قوي قريش وهو أبو الأشد بن كلدة بقوته {أن} مخففة من الثقيلة واسمها محذوف، أي أنه {لن يقدر عليه أحد} والله قادر عليه.
quran:90:6 –

He says, "I have spent wealth in abundance."  

He says, ‘I have exhausted, in enmity of Muhammad (s), vast wealth!’, great ˹wealth˺, piles and piles of it.
القرآن:٩٠:٦ –

يَقُولُأَهْلَكْتُ مَالًا لُبَدًا  

{يقول أهلكت} على عداوة محمد {مالا لبدا} كثيرا بعضه على بعض.
quran:90:7 –

Does he think that no one has seen him?  

Does he suppose that (an, in other words, annahu) no one has seen him?, with regard to what he has expended to know the quantity thereof; God knows the quantity thereof; but it is not ˹in reality that much so as˺ to be considered a great amount, and ˹in any case˺ He will requite him for his evil conduct.
القرآن:٩٠:٧ –

أَيَحْسَبُ أَنْ لَمْ يَرَهُ أَحَدٌ  

{أيحسب أن} أي أنه {لم يره أحد} فيما أنفقه فيعلم قدره، والله عالم بقدره وأنه ليس مما يتكثر به ومجازيه على فعله السيء.
quran:90:8 –

Have We not made for him two eyes?  

Have We not given (an interrogative meant as an affirmative, in other words, ‘We have ˹certainly˺ given’) him two eyes,
القرآن:٩٠:٨ –

أَلَمْ نَجْعَلْ لَهُ عَيْنَيْنِ  

{ألم نجعل} استفهام تقرير أي جعلنا {له عينين}.
quran:90:10 –

And have shown him the two ways?  

and guided him to the two paths?, ˹did We not˺ point out to him the path of good and that of evil?
القرآن:٩٠:١٠ –

وَهَدَيْنَاهُ النَّجْدَيْنِ  

{وهديناه النجدين} بينا له طريق الخير والشر.
quran:90:11 –

But he has not broken through the difficult pass.  

Yet why does he not assault the obstacle?, ˹why˺ does he ˹not˺ surmount it?
القرآن:٩٠:١١ –

فَلَا اقْتَحَمَ الْعَقَبَةَ  

{فلا} فهلا {اقتحم العقبة} جاوزها.
quran:90:12 –

And what can make you know what is ˹breaking through˺ the difficult pass?  

And what will show you, ˹what will˺ make known to you, what the obstacle is?, that he is to surmount — intended to emphasise its enormity (this statement is a parenthetical one). He explains the way to surmount it by saying:
القرآن:٩٠:١٢ –

وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْعَقَبَةُ  

{وما أدراك} أعلمك {ما العقبة} التي يقتحمها تعظيما لشأنها، والجملة اعتراض وبين سبب جوازها بقوله:
quran:90:14 –

Or feeding on a day of severe hunger  

or to give food on a day of hunger,
القرآن:٩٠:١٤ –

أَوْ إِطْعَامٌ فِي يَوْمٍ ذِي مَسْغَبَةٍ  

{أو أطْعَمَ في يوم ذي مسغبة} مجاعة.
quran:90:15 –

An orphan of near relationship  

to an orphan near of kin (maqraba means qarāba),
القرآن:٩٠:١٥ –

يَتِيمًا ذَا مَقْرَبَةٍ  

{يتيما ذا مقربة} قرابة.
quran:90:16 –

Or a needy person in misery  

or a needy person in misery (matraba: ˹literally means˺ ‘clinging to the dust ˹turāb˺’ because of his poverty; a variant reading has two verbal nouns in place of the two verbs ˹fakka, ‘he freed’, and at‘ama, ‘he fed’˺, the first being in a genitive construction, fakku raqabatin, ‘the freeing of a slave’, and the second with nunation, it‘āmun, ‘to give food’, in which case there is an implied iqtihāmu before al-‘aqaba, of which the said reading becomes the explication);
القرآن:٩٠:١٦ –

أَوْ مِسْكِينًا ذَا مَتْرَبَةٍ  

{أو مسكينا ذا متربة} لصوق بالتراب لفقره، وفي قراءة بدل الفعلين مصدران مرفوعان مضاف الأول لرقبة وينون الثاني فيقدر قبل العقبة اقتحام، والقراءة المذكورة بيانه.
quran:90:17 –

And then being among those who believed and advised one another to patience and advised one another to compassion.  

while being (thumma kāna is a supplement to iqtahama, ‘he assaulted’; thumma is for the ordering of things to be mentioned) in other words, ˹what is meant is that˺ at the point of the assault he was: one of those who believe and enjoin one another to steadfastness, in ˹pursuing˺ obedience and in refraining from disobedience, and enjoin one another to compassion (marhama means rahma), towards creatures.
القرآن:٩٠:١٧ –

ثُمَّ كَانَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْمَرْحَمَةِ  

{ثم كان} عطف على اقتحم وثم للترتيب الذكري، والمعنى كان وقت الاقتحام {من الذين آمنوا وتواصوا} أوصى بعضهم بعضا {بالصبر} على الطاعة وعن المعصية {وتواصوا بالمرحمة} الرحمة على الخلق.
quran:90:18 –

Those are the companions of the right.  

Those, the ones described by the said attributes, are the ones of the right ˹side˺ (al-maymana means alyamīn).
القرآن:٩٠:١٨ –

أُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ  

{أولئك} الموصوفون بهذه الصفات {أصحاب الميمنة} اليمين.
quran:90:19 –

But they who disbelieved in Our signs - those are the companions of the left.  

But those who disbelieve in Our signs, they are the ones of the left ˹side˺ (al-mash’ama means al-shimāl).
القرآن:٩٠:١٩ –

وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِآيَاتِنَا هُمْ أَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ  

{والذين كفروا بآياتنا هم أصحاب المشأمة} الشمال.
quran:90:20 –

Over them will be fire closed in.  

Over them will be an enclosing Fire (read mu’sada or mūsada), closed on top ˹of them˺. Meccan, consisting of 15 verses.
القرآن:٩٠:٢٠ –

عَلَيْهِمْ نَارٌ مُؤْصَدَةٌ  

{عليهم نار مؤصدة} بالهمزة والواو بدله، مطبقة.