090
Muhammad Asad
AL-BALAD (THE LAND)
THE NINETIETH
SURAH
Total Verses: 20
Introduction
ALTHOUGH Suyuti places this surah
in the middle of the Mecca period (after surah
50), it is most probable that it belongs to the earliest years of
Muhammad‘s prophethood.
IN THE NAME OF
GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE:
(1) NAY! I call to witness this land –
(2) this land in which thou art
free to dwell - *
*Lit., "while thou art
dwelling in this land". The classical commentators give to the term balad the connotation of "city",
and maintain that the phrase hadha 'l-balad ("this city") signifies
(3) and [I call to witness] parent and offspring: *
*Lit., "the begetter and that
which he has begotten". According to Tabari's
convincing explanation, this phrase signifies "every parent and all their
offspring" - i.e., the human race from its beginning to its end. (The
masculine form al-walid denotes, of course,
both male and female parents.)
(4) Verily, We have created man into [a life of] pain, toil and trial. *
* The term kabad,
comprising the concepts of "pain", "ditress",
"hardship", "toil", "trial"', etc., can be
rendered only by a compound expression like the one above.
(5) Does he, then, think that no one has power over him?
(6) He boasts, "I have spent wealth abundant!" *
*Implying that his resources -
and, therefore, his possibilities - are inexhaustible. We must remember that
the term "man" is used here in the sense of "human race":
hence, the above boast is a metonym for the widespread belief - characteristic
of all periods of religious decadence - that there are no limits to the power
to which man may aspire, and that, therefore, his worldly "interests"
are the only criteria of right and wrong.
(7) Does he, then, think that no one sees him? *
*I.e., "Does he think that he
is responsible to none but himself?"
(8) Have We not given him two eyes,
(9) and a tongue, and a pair of lips, *
*I.e., to recognize and to voice
the truth of God's existence or, at least to ask for guidance.
(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], *
*Thus lkrimah,
as quoted by Baghawi; also Razi.
Alternatively, the phrase fakk raqabah may be rendered as "the freeing of a human
being from bondage" (cf. note 146 on 2:190), with the latter term covering
all those forms of subjugation and exploitation - social, economic or political
- which can be rightly described as ";slavery".
(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; *
*Lit., "people (ashab) of the right side": see note 25 on 74:39.
(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. *
*I.e., the fires of despair in the
life to come "rising over the [sinners') hearts" and "closing in
upon them": cf. 104:6-8 and the corresponding note 5. The phrase rendered
by me as "such as have lost themselves in evil" reads, literally,
"people of "the left side (al-mash'amah)".