Surah Al-Balad – Abdulhadi Kanakeri

Al-Balad ("The City") is the 90th surah of the Quran, in Juz' Amma. Meccan, it has 20 verses and is the 35th surah in the traditional order of revelation, after Qaf. It opens with an oath by "this city", Mecca, where the Prophet ﷺ lived and faced the hostility of his own people (90:1-2).

Commentators read the second verse in two ways: the Prophet ﷺ is a dweller of this city, or it would be made lawful for him on the day of its conquest. The oath leads to a statement on the human condition: "We have certainly created man into toil" (90:4). Man boasts of the wealth he has squandered, as if no one saw him; yet God gave him eyes, a tongue and lips, and showed him "the two highways" of good and evil (90:8-10).

The surah then describes the steep path (al-'aqaba) he has not attempted: freeing a slave, feeding on a day of hunger an orphan relative or a destitute person, then being among those who believe and urge one another to patience and compassion (90:11-17). These are the companions of the right; those who reject God's signs are the companions of the left, enclosed in fire (90:18-20).