Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim.

In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. All the praises and thanks be to Allâh, the Lord of the 'Alamîn . The Only Owner of the Day of Recompense. You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help. Guide us to the Straight Way. The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace , not (the way) of those who earned Your Anger, nor of those who went astray .

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90: (Al-Balad)- The City 

(The City)Number of Verses: 20

Sūra al-Balad (Arabic: سورَة البَلَد) is the ninetieth sura and a makki sura of the quran. It is in the thirtieth juz of the Qur'an. The sura begins with swearing to "al-balad" (the city, which refers to mecca), and this is why, it came to be called "al-Balad". In this sura, god says that the human life in this world is intermingled with pains and hardships. It also enumerates some of God's blessings to human beings and then refers to human ingratitude towards these blessings.

According to this sura, the most valuable human actions include the emancipation of the slaves, feeding the hungry, and helping the poor. There is a hadith from prophet muhammad (s) about the virtue of this sura, according to which if a person recites Sura al-Balad, God will secure him or her against His anger on the Day of judgement.

The Surah, in spite of its brevity, contains some thought provoking ideas:

In the first part of the Surah, after mentioning some meaningful oaths, this fact is pointed out that Man's life, in this world, is always full of toil and struggle which prepares him to be able to face troubles and difficulties and therefore, he should not expect absolute tranquility and comfort in the present world; that which is possible only in the next life.

In the next part of this Surah, a few of the greatest divine bounties created for Man are enumerated and then, discussion is given showing his ingratitude.

In the last part of the Surah, people are divided into two groups: the people of the Right Hand and the people of the Left Hand. Then, some characteristics of the good deeds of the first group and their final fate are stated and are compared to the destiny of the opposite group; the Unbelievers and sinners.

The senses derived from the verses of this Surah are decisive and vigorous, the statements are short and categorical and the words are extremely effective and explicit. The form and content of the verses show that the Surah is one of the Meccan ones.

Regarding the virtue in studying the Surah, the holy Prophet (S) is narrated to have said:

"He who studies it, Allah will make him safe from His wrath on the Day of Judgement."

A tradition from Imam Sadiq (as) says:

"He who recites Surah Balad in his obligatory prayers will be known as a good-doer in this world, and in the Next World he will be considered among those who have rank and privilege with Allah, and he will be of the friends and companions of the prophets, martyrs, and the pious men."

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Benefits

This Surah has 20 verses and it was revealed in Makkah. the Holy Prophet (S) has said that whoever recites this Surah will be safe from the Wrath of Allah (S.w.T.) on the Day of Reckoning. Those who recite this Surah in their faraa'idh prayers, will be counted among the pious and will given a highly status in the company of the Prophets and martyrs.

Writing this Surah as a talisman and tying it around the neck of a child keeps him safe from illness. Water in which this Surah has been dissolved, if put in the nostrils, acts as a cure for nose ailments.

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Lessons

The Prophet ﷺ had the privilege of having the restrictions of the Ḥaram exclusively lifted for him during the Liberation of Makkah.

Does the human think no one will have any power over him?

Does the human think there is no one watching him?

Allāh gave us two eyes, a tongue, and two lips, and showed us the path of good and evil. It is we who ultimately make the choice.

Those who make the right choice will be the people of the right, and those who make the wrong choice will be those of the left; doomed for the Fire.

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Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala goes on to discuss some of the claims that man makes.

Man says, "I have spent wealth in abundance." But in what causes has he spent his wealth? Squandering and wasting it so that people appreciate him and treat him as an important person? His display of wealth has been for pride and glory. Bestowing rich awards on, poetic admirers, inviting and feeding hundreds of thousands of people on marriage and death ceremonies, gambling away heaps of wealth, attending festivals with large entourages, trying to excel others in display of glory and grandeur, having heaps of food cooked on ceremonial occasions and throwing invitations to all and sundry to come and eat, or arranging and supplying running meals at the residence so as to impress the people around with one's generosity and large-heartedness; such were the expenditures of ostentation, which in the days of ignorance were regarded as a symbol of man's benevolence and magnanimity, and a sign of his greatness. For these they were praised and admired; on these their praises were sung; and on account of these they prided themselves against the less fortunate.

Today, the same practices of the pre-Islamic ignorant days are rampant. Be it a wedding function or a death ceremony. Event starts and continues for several weeks and months; throwing money on décor and food, inviting thousands of rich and renowned people to maintain a certain status before them. What if the same money that is spent for pride and ostentation was spent in Allah's way? Man says, "I have spent in abundance." Doesn't he know that there is a God above him, seeing by what means he acquired wealth, in what ways he spent it, and with what intention, motive, and purpose he did all this?

In view of man's arrogance, which makes him believe that he is invincible, and in view of his meanness and claims of having spent abundantly, the Qur'an puts before him the bounties Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has bestowed on him which are manifested in his inherent abilities, although he has depreciated them, "Have We not given him two eyes, a tongue and two lips, and shown him the two paths?" (Ayaat 8-10)

Man is conceited because he finds himself powerful, but forgets it is Allah Who granted him this power. He is mean with his wealth while Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the One who provided him with it. He neither follows right guidance nor shows gratitude, although Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given him the means to do so. He has given him eyes to see. He has given him a tongue to talk and express himself. He has equipped him with the ability to distinguish good from evil, and right from wrong so that he can choose between them. Inherent in his make-up is the ability to take either way. It is Allah's will that man should be given such ability and such freedom of choice, to perfect His scheme of creation.

After reminding man of his reality and Allah's favors upon him a complaint is being made that all these bounties have not motivated man to attempt the ascent that stands between him and heaven. The word iqtiham means "to apply oneself to a hard and toilsome task," while 'aqabah is the steep path that passes through mountains for ascending heights. Thus, the ayah means one of the two paths that We have shown him, leads to heights but is toilsome and steep; man has to tread it against the desires of his self and the temptations of Shaytan. The other path is easy which descends into chasms, but does not require any toil from man; one only needs to give free reins to oneself, then one automatically goes on rolling down the abyss. Now, the man to whom We had shown both the paths, adopted the easy down-hill path and abandoned the toilsome path, which leads to the heights."

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Hadiths

A tradition is narrated by Ibn-Abbas that the Prophet (S) said:

"(On Dooms Day) no servant can walk forth unless he is asked about four things:

1) about his lifetime and how he spent it,

2) about his wealth and where he gathered it from and what he spent it for,

3) about his deeds and what he has done, and

4) about his love for us; the Ahlul-Bait".

In short, how can Man be proud of his wealth and boast that he is powerful while all his life is spent in pain and toil, and if he has some wealth it can disappear in one day and if he has strength it can be removed by a fever?

Furthermore, how can a person claim that he has spent much wealth for the sake of Allah when He knows his intentions? Allah knows both the source of that unlawful wealth and how he spent it hypocritically and grudgingly.

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That is why the Prophet (S), in a tradition has said:

"Allah told mankind:

'O children of Adam! If your tongue wants to make you commit sin, I have supplied you with two lips to control it, and if your eyes are going to attract you to something unlawful, two eyelids are with you; close them!'"

Thus, Allah has given Man the means of controlling these gifts which is one of the great blessings that He has bestowed on him.

It is noteworthy that in the above verses, when speaking of the tongue, the lips are mentioned but, in talking about the eyes, eyelids are not referred to. Apparently, it is for two reasons: the first is that the function of the lips in eating, drinking and speaking is more important than the function of the eyelids with the eyes; and the second is that the ability to control the tongue is more effective than that of the eyes.

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This tradition from the holy Prophet (S) has not been cited for the commentary of the current verse, but the commentators have applied it to this verse. However, regarding to the commentary clearly expressed in the verses, their application does not seem appropriate.

The objective idea is that the uphill roads of the Hereafter are illustrations of the hard arduous climbs, here in this world and whose paths are subdivisions of the paths of this world.

It is worth noting that the term /iqtahama/ based on /iqtiham/ which originally means 'to undertake a task which is frightful', or 'to enter and pass somewhere with toil and difficulty'; denotes that passing this uphill road is not an easy thing to accomplish.

This is an emphasis on what was mentioned at the beginning of the Surah:

"Certainly We have created man to be in distress".

That is, both his life and his obedience to Allah are full of difficulties.

It has been narrated that Hazrat Ali (as) has said:

"Paradise is surrounded by unpleasantness while Hell is surrounded by desires."

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