Surah Al-Balad Word by Word + The Seven-Link Method

Surah Al-Balad is twenty verses and eighty-two words, and its central image is a hill. It tells you that a human being was created fī kabad — in difficulty — lists the equipment you were given, and then says plainly that you have not attempted the climb. What the climb consists of turns out to be startlingly practical: free someone, feed someone, be one of the people who tell each other to hold on. This guide gives the complete word-by-word meaning of Surah Al-Balad for readers in the UK and the United States, and applies the Seven-Link Method.

📌 At a glance

• Surah: Al-Balad (البلد, "The City") — number 90

• Length: 20 verses — 82 words in total

• Revealed: Makkah (Makki)

• Structure: oaths (1–3), the human condition (4–7), the equipment (8–10), the climb (11–18), the two groups (19–20)

• Theme: you were given everything you needed for a climb you have not started

💎 Did you know?

The steep path of Surah Al-Balad — al-ʿaqabah — is defined entirely in actions towards other people: freeing a neck, feeding an orphan or a person in the dust on a day of hunger, and then being among those who believe and tell one another to be patient and merciful. Nothing in the definition is private.

📖 What is Surah Al-Balad?

Surah Al-Balad (سُورَةُ البلد) is the 90th surah of the Qur'an. Al-balad means the city, and the city sworn by is Makkah — sworn by twice, in verses 1 and 2, with a striking parenthesis in between: wa anta ḥillun bi-hādha l-balad.

Then comes the claim: la-qad khalaqna l-insāna fī kabad — We created man in kabad, a word for toil, strain and difficulty that never quite lets up. Not as a punishment; as a description of the terrain.

The rest of the surah asks what a person does with that. It lists what was given — two eyes, a tongue, two lips, and the two roads pointed out — and then says the climb has not been attempted. And it defines the climb in the plainest possible terms.

🕋 The full text and translation

"I swear by this city — and you are free of restriction in this city — and by a father and what he begot: We have certainly created man in hardship. Does he think that no one has power over him? He says: I have spent wealth in abundance. Does he think that no one has seen him? Have We not made for him two eyes, and a tongue and two lips, and shown him the two paths? But he has not attempted the steep path. And what will make you know what the steep path is? It is freeing a neck, or feeding on a day of severe hunger an orphan of near relationship, or a needy person in the dust. And then being among those who believed and enjoined one another to patience and enjoined one another to compassion. Those are the companions of the right. But those who disbelieved in Our signs — they are the companions of the left. Over them will be a Fire closed in."
(Surah Al-Balad 90:1–20)

🔑 Surah Al-Balad: word by word

Here is every word of Surah Al-Balad in order, with its transliteration and English meaning. Take it a few lines at a time rather than trying to absorb the whole table at once.

👉 Want to hear each word and see its syllables and grammar? Study Surah Al-Balad interactively — with audio for every word — using Eaalim's free Quranic Words tool for Surah Al-Balad.

🎓 Learn this surah with a teacher, not just a table

Reading the meanings is the first half. Hearing your own recitation corrected is the other. Eaalim gives new students two free trial lessons — one-to-one on Zoom with an Al-Azhar certified teacher, never a group class — booked around your own time zone in the UK, the United States or anywhere else. Paid plans start at £9 per hour.

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📜 How Surah Al-Balad moves

Verses 1–4 — the oaths, and the claim

The city is sworn by twice, and between the two oaths sits the phrase wa anta ḥillun bi-hādha l-balad, read by the commentators both as "you are a lawful resident of this city" and as a foretelling of the day the sacred city would be made lawful to him for an hour. A father and his offspring are sworn by as well — the most ordinary fact there is. And then: man was created fī kabad, inside difficulty.

Verses 5–7 — two questions

A-yaḥsabu an lan yaqdira ʿalayhi aḥad — does he think nobody has power over him? Then a boast: ahlaktu mālan lubadā, "I have destroyed piles of wealth" — the verb is ahlaktu, wasted or destroyed, not "spent". Then the second question, which is the sharper one: a-yaḥsabu an lam yarahu aḥad — does he think nobody saw him?

Verses 8–10 — the equipment

Two eyes, a tongue, two lips, and an-najdayn — the two elevated roads, shown to him. Najd is high ground that is visible from a distance: the two ways were not hidden. Everything needed for the climb has already been issued.

Verses 11–18 — the climb, and what it is

Fa-lā iqtaḥama l-ʿaqabah — but he has not attempted the steep path. Iqtaḥama means to throw yourself into something difficult without hesitating. Then the familiar question form, and the answer: freeing a neck; feeding, on a day of hunger, an orphan who is a relative or a poor person in the dust; and then being among those who believe and tawāṣaw bi-ṣ-ṣabri wa tawāṣaw bi-l-marḥamah — enjoin one another to patience and to compassion.

Verses 19–20 — the two groups

Those are aṣḥāb al-maymanah, the companions of the right. And those who disbelieved in Our signs are aṣḥāb al-mash'amah, the companions of the left, with nārun mu'ṣadah over them — a Fire closed in, the same word used at the end of Surah Al-Humazah.

💡 Understanding the meaning behind the words

A few words carry most of the weight of this surah, and each rewards a closer look.

Kabad — Toil, strain, difficulty that is structural rather than occasional. The verse says a human being was created in it — the difficulty is the medium, not an interruption of it.

Lubadā — Piled up, heaped, stuck together in masses. Used of wealth, it pictures quantity rather than value — and it is paired with ahlaktu, destroyed.

An-Najdayn — The two elevated roads. Najd is raised ground you can see from far off. The choice of word matters: the two ways are not obscure.

Al-ʿAqabah — A steep mountain path — the hard climb out of a valley. The surah uses it as the image for everything that is difficult and worth doing, and then defines it in acts of release and feeding.

Fakku raqabah — "Freeing a neck" — releasing someone from bondage or, as the commentators extend it, from any burden that is holding them down, including debt.

Marḥamah — Compassion, mercy shown in practice. It sits beside ṣabr in the final requirement, and it is the only place in the Qur'an where these two are paired in this exact form.

🔗 The Seven-Link Method applied to Surah Al-Balad

Twenty verses, two near-identical questions, and a doubled verb that also appears in another surah. Al-Balad rewards structure over repetition.

Verbal link (1) — what is said twice

Hādha l-balad in verses 1 and 2; a-yaḥsabu an opening verses 5 and 7; aḥad ending both of those verses; al-ʿaqabah in verses 11 and 12; wa tawāṣaw twice in verse 17; and aṣḥāb in verses 18 and 19. Every repetition in this surah brackets a section.

Phonetic link (2) — a long -ah run in the middle

The endings move through al-balad, al-balad, walad, kabad, aḥad, lubadā, aḥad — a hard -ad family — then through ʿaynayn, shafatayn, najdayn (the duals), and then into a run of -ah: al-ʿaqabah, al-ʿaqabah, raqabah, masghabah, maqrabah, matrabah, al-marḥamah, al-maymanah, al-mash'amah, mu'ṣadah. Three sound-worlds for three movements.

Thematic link (3) — oaths, condition, equipment, climb, outcome

Five blocks. The middle three answer one another: this is your terrain, this is your equipment, and this is the climb you have not attempted.

Narrative link (4) — a question that must be answered

Verse 12 asks what the steep path is, so verses 13–17 are owed. As in Al-Humazah and Al-Qari'ah, once the wa mā adrāka formula is spoken, the answer cannot be skipped.

Visual link (5) — five frames

A city under oath; a man carrying something heavy from the moment he is born; the same man boasting about money he has burned through; a hill with a path up it, untried; and then someone at the bottom of the hill untying another person, and handing food to a child covered in dust.

Numerical link (6) — counts

20 verses, 82 words, 2 oaths on the city, 2 a-yaḥsabu questions, 4 pieces of equipment (eyes, tongue, lips, the two roads), 3 elements of the climb, 2 groups at the end.

Similar-verse link (7) — two cross-surah look-alikes

• Verse 17 — wa tawāṣaw bi-ṣ-ṣabri wa tawāṣaw bi-l-marḥamah — is the twin of Al-Asr 103:3, wa tawāṣaw bi-l-ḥaqqi wa tawāṣaw bi-ṣ-ṣabr. Patience appears in both but in different positions: in Al-Balad it comes first and is followed by compassion; in Al-Asr it comes second and follows truth.
• Verse 20 ends nārun mu'ṣadah, and Al-Humazah 104:8 has innahā ʿalayhim mu'ṣadah. Same word, different frame.

🎥 The visual film

Run this sequence in your mind twice after Fajr and twice before sleep — one image per stage:

1. Verses 1–4 — a city at dawn, and a person carrying a weight from the first step.

2. Verses 5–7 — a man boasting about money he burned through, glancing round to check who saw.

3. Verses 8–10 — eyes, a mouth, and two roads clearly visible on the high ground ahead.

4. Verses 11–16 — a steep path, untouched — and then, at the bottom of it, a rope untied and a plate handed to a child in the dust.

5. Verses 17–20 — two groups: one telling each other to hold on, one behind a door that has been shut.

📚 How to learn Surah Al-Balad word by word

1. Day 1 — verses 1–4. Learn kabad properly; the whole surah is built on it.

2. Day 2 — verses 5–10. The two a-yaḥsabu questions are identical except for lan yaqdira and lam yarahu — power, then sight.

3. Day 3 — verses 11–17, the climb. Count its three elements: free, feed, and be among those who tell each other to hold on.

4. Day 4 — verses 18–20, and then drill verse 17 against Al-Asr 103:3 until patience stops moving between the two.

A qualified teacher shortens all of this: correct Tajweed, honest feedback on the verses you only think you know, and answers to the questions that come up once you start understanding the words.

🇬🇧 🇺🇸 Studying Surah Al-Balad from the UK or the United States

Most people reading this guide are not learning Arabic in an Arabic-speaking country. They are fitting the Qur'an around school runs in Birmingham, shift work in Manchester, or an evening after the commute home in Chicago or Toronto — and the practical problem is rarely motivation. It is finding a teacher who will correct one surah properly, at a time that actually exists in your week.

That is the gap Eaalim Institute was built for. We are a London-based institute teaching English-speaking Muslims across Britain, the United States, Canada and Europe:

• One-to-one, never group. Every lesson is private on Zoom, so the whole session is spent on your recitation rather than waiting your turn in a halaqa.

• Al-Azhar certified teachers. Male and female teachers, matched to the student — which matters for families booking for children.

• Scheduled around your time zone. Evening and weekend slots, arranged around school hours and prayer times rather than against them.

• Two free trial lessons before you pay anything, and plans from £9 per hour after that.

If you have read this far into a word-by-word guide, you are already doing the hard part. A teacher simply makes it faster — and stops you memorising a mistake.

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🎓 Learn it properly with Eaalim

The two halves of this guide match two Eaalim courses. Our Quranic Words Course teaches Qur'anic vocabulary word by word to English-speaking students across the UK, the United States and worldwide. Our Qur'an Memorisation (Hifz) Course applies the Seven-Link Method surah by surah with Al-Azhar certified teachers, one to one.

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✨ Key takeaways

• Surah Al-Balad is 20 verses and 82 words, and its rhyme moves through three distinct families.

• Kabad means built-in difficulty: man was created inside strain, not merely subject to it.

• The two a-yaḥsabu questions differ by one idea: no one has power over him, and no one saw him.

• Al-ʿaqabah is defined entirely in actions towards other people — freeing, feeding, and mutual encouragement.

• Verse 17 pairs patience with compassion; Al-Asr 103:3 pairs truth with patience. Keep them apart.

Continue with Surah Al-Asr word by word + the Seven-Link Method, whose final verse is this surah's closest twin, or with Surah Al-Humazah.

✨ Conclusion

Eighty-two words about a hill nobody has climbed. Learned word by word — kabad, najdayn, ʿaqabah, marḥamah — Surah Al-Balad turns from a warning into a checklist, and an unusually concrete one: whose neck did you free, who did you feed on a hard day, and who are you telling to hold on?

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