NAY! I call to witness this land –

this land in which thou art free to dwell -

and [I call to witness] parent and offspring:

Verily, We have created man into [a life of] pain, toil and trial.

Does he, then, think that no one has power over him?

He boasts, "I have spent wealth abundant!"

Does he, then, think that no one sees him?

Have We not given him two eyes,

and a tongue, and a pair of lips,

and shown him the two highways [of good and evil]?

But he would not try to ascend the steep uphill road...

And what could make thee conceive what it is, that steep uphill road?

[It is] the freeing of one's neck [from the burden of sin],

or the feeding, upon a day of [one's own] hunger,

of an orphan near of kin,

or of a needy [stranger] lying in the dust –

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.

Such are they that have attained to righteousness;

whereas those who are bent on denying the truth of Our messages – they are such as have lost themselves in evil,

[with] fire closing in upon them.