| asad | |
|---|---|
| 1. * | NAY! I call to witness this land - |
| 2. * | this land in which thou art free to dwell - * |
| 3. * | and [I call to witness] parent and offspring: * |
| 4. * | Verily, We have created man into [a life of] pain, toil and trial. * |
| 5. * | Does he, then, think that no one has power over him? |
| 6. * | He boasts, "I have spent wealth abundant!" * |
| 7. * | Does he, then, think that no one sees him? * |
| 8. * | Have We not given him two eyes, |
| 9. * | and a tongue, and a pair of lips, * |
| 10. * | and shown him the two highways [of good and evil]? |
| 11. * | But he would not try to ascend the steep uphill road... |
| 12. * | And what could make thee conceive what it is, that steep uphill road? |
| 13. * | [It is] the freeing of one's neck [from the burden of sin], * |
| 14. * | or the feeding, upon a day of [one's own] hunger, |
| 15. * | of an orphan near of kin, |
| 16. * | or of a needy [stranger] lying in the dust - |
| 17. * | 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. |
| 18. * | Such are they that have attained to righteousness; * |
| 19. * | whereas those who are bent on denying the truth of Our messages - they are such as have lost themselves in evil, |
| 20. * | [with] fire closing in upon them. * |