Surah # 90 - Al Balad

(Arabic: البلد‎ Al-balad, The City, This Country)

This is the 90th surah of the Qur'an with 20 ayaat.

     THEME AND SUBJECT 

In this Surah a vast subject has been compressed into a few brief sentences, and it is a miracle of the Qur'an that a complete ideology of life which could hardly be explained in a thick volume has been abridged most effectively in brief sentences of this short Surah.

Its theme is to explain the true position of man in the world and of the world in relation to man and to tell that Allah has shown to man both the highways of good and evil, has also provided for him the means to judge and see and follow them, and now it rests upon man's own effort and judgment whether he chooses the path of virtue and reaches felicity or adopts the path of vice and meets with doom.

               SUMMARY 

 First, the city of Makkah and the hardships being faced therein by the Prophet (salAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam) and the state of the children of Adam ('alaihis-salaam) have been cited as a witness to the truth that this world is not a place of rest and ease for man, where he might have been born to enjoy life, but here he has been created into toil and struggle.

 After this, man's misunderstanding that he is all alone in this world and that there is no superior power to watch what he does and to call him to account, has been refuted. The person who, for ostentation and display, squanders heaps of wealth, not only himself prides upon his extravagances but the people also admire him, whereas the Being Who is watching over his deeds, sees by what methods he obtained the wealth and in what ways and intention he spent it.

Then Allah says: We have given man the means of knowledge and the faculties of thinking and understanding and opened up before him both the highways of virtue and vice:

 One way leads down to moral depravity, and it is an easy way pleasing for the self; 

 The other way leads up to moral heights, which is steep like an uphill road, for scaling which man has to exercise self- restraint. 

Then, Allah has explained what the steep road is by following which man can ascend to the heights.

 It is that he should give up spending for ostentation, display and pride and should spend his wealth to help the orphans and the needy,

Should believe in Allah and His Religion and joining the company of believers,

 Should participate in the construction of a society which should fulfill the demands of virtue and righteousness patiently and should be compassionate to the people.

The end of those who follow this way is that they would become worthy of Allah's mercies. On the contrary, the end of those who follow the wrong way, is the fire of Hell from which there is no escape.