90. Surah Al Balad (The City)
(1-3) At the beginning of Muhammad (s)'s prophethood, when the bad people started to give a very
hard time to the Muslims as a warning Allah (swt) sent the Surah Balad. In some cases, the bad Qurayish started to
torture and destroy Muslim lives in Makkah, which was the safest city in all of Arabia. That’s why Allah (swt) started surah Balad
swear by the special city, Makkah. People knew why it was so special. Long ago, Prophet Ibrahim (as) came here with
his family.
It was a lonely place, with only mountains
and dry land. But he built a prayer house and invited people
to visit it. Makkah later became a big city, important
for trade and religion. It was so safe that it became the only secure
place in the whole of Arabia for many generations. (4) Life isn't always easy. People are made to face challenges and work
hard. Even a powerful king or ruler has worries
and problems. A special person like Muhammad (s) also had
to face lots of difficulties to spread Is
lam. Nobody can escape from facing troubles in
life. Our life is tough from the moment we are born
until we grow up. When we are babies, we cannot take care of
ourselves. We rely on others to take care of us. (5) But when people grow up, they start to
think they can do whatever they want and forget the creator Allah (swt)’s blessing. As an example, Allah (swt) made Pharaoh a
very powerful king in Egypt. To even get more power he started to break
Allah (swt)’s laws and orders and give a hard time
to the Bani Israel. At one point he even claimed himself as God
and tried to kill Prophet Musa (as) and his followers, the Bani Israel. But when Allah (swt) attacked him in the Red
Sea, he could not save himself from that water. So, it's important for us to remember that
Allah(swt) has complete power in everything. (6) But whoever forgets that, they become
arrogant. They don't care to use their money for good
reasons, like helping others. They spend it to show off how rich and important
they ar
e. (7) They don't realize that there's a higher
power Allah (swt), who sees everything. Allah knows how they got their wealth, how
they spent it, and what their intentions were. No one can impress Allah (swt) by showing
off and bragging. Allah (swt) doesn’t like this kind of behavior. (8-9) Do you how we can learn? We're given special tools like eyes, tongue,
and lips by Allah (swt). But it's not just about seeing or talking. Our eyes help us see things around us, and
if we use them wisely, we c
an understand what's right and wrong. And our tongue and lips aren't just for speaking,
they're connected to our smart brains that help us think, understand, and express ourselves. (10) After giving us the ability to think
and reason, we're not left all alone. Allah (swt) gave us guidance, the Quran. It shows us two different roads. One is a good destination and the other is
a bad destination. The good road can be kind of difficult but
the bad road is very easy. (11) As an example, Imagine there
are two
paths in front of us. One is like climbing a high mountain - it's
tough and needs a lot of effort. The other path is like going downhill - it's
easy and doesn't need much work. Now, which path takes us to a beautiful place? The first one, which is harder. (12-18) Do you know why the path to a successful
life is hard? Because in this path we need to free slaves
or help others. In the modern day, we need to help unfortunate
helpless people who need help, like refugees, servants, and under
age or low-paid workers,
bringing justice to the labor force. We need to give food to hungry people and
help orphan children in every single way. Overall we have to help all kinds of needy
people. But it is not always very easy to help people. If any kind of trouble comes we have to be
patient and believe that Allah (swt) is always with us. He will save us and remove all kinds of problems. For example: One day a poor orphan boy came
to bad Abu Jahl to get all of his land and money which his fath
er left for the orphan
boy. That orphan boy did not have any clothes to
wear. But bad Abu Jahl refused to give him the money
that belonged to him. The poor boy did not know what to do. Some of Abu Jahl's friends laughed at the
orphan boy. They even told him to go to Muhammad (s) with
his complaint. At that time Abu Jahl and his friends were
giving a very hard time to Muhammad (s) and all of the Muslims. Muslims were very weak at that time. They thought Muhammad (s) could not help that
orphan. Th
at poor boy went to Muhammad (s) and complained
about Abu Jahl. The prophet stood up for him right way and
took the boy to Abu Jahl. He told Abu Jahl to return the orphan’s
money right away. Abu Jahl became afraid and returned the orphan
money right away. Abu Jahl’s friends were surprised to see
that. Later Abu Jahl told them, he saw two spears
with Muhammad (s). One was on his right side and the other was
on his left side. If Abu Jahl refused to give that orphan his
money, those spears would ki
ll him. Basically, we should not be afraid to do good
things because Allah (swt) is our one and only protector. By helping orphans and others we can confirm
our place in Heaven. (19-20) But those who don’t do this kind
of helpful things, basically they don’t follow Allah (swt)’s advice. And they are very bad people. Allah (swt) will send them to the Hellfire. No one can’t save them from that terrible
Hellfire, except Allah (swt)’s mercy and kindness. May Allah (swt) help us to follow his guidanc
e,
the Quran completely, Ameen. Important Facts of Al Balad:
1. The name of Surah Al-Balad came from the first
sentence of the Surah. 2. Allah (swt) sent this Surah in Makkah when
the bad people started to punish the new Muslims. 3. Surah Al-Balad means "the City". 4. This Surah has only 20 short sentences. 5. Surah Al-Balad is the 90th chapter in the
Quran. 6. The main advice of this surah is to
help others.
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