The Hijjr Valley (Al-Hijjr)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Alif-Lam-Ra; these are verses of the Book and the bright Qur’an. 1 Often will those who disbelieve wish that they had been Muslims. 2 Leave them to eat and enjoy life and let false hopes amuse them. They will soon come to know. 3 And We have not destroyed a town but there was therefor a decree known. 4 No nation will precede its term, nor will they remain thereafter. 5 And yet, they [who deny the truth] say: "O thou unto whom this reminder has [allegedly] been bestowed from on high: verily, thou art mad! 6 Why bringest thou not angels unto us if thou art of the truthtellers! 7 But We send down the angels only to bring justice and then they will not be reprieved. 8 Indeed We have sent down the Qur’an, and indeed We Ourselves surely are its Guardians. (This is one of the miracles of the Qur’an – no one has been able to change even one letter of its text, despite every effort. It has remained in its original form since the 6th Century (A. D) and will remain so forever. Other Holy Books such as the Torah and the Bible have lost their originality.) 9 And indeed We sent Noble Messengers before you, to the former nations. 10 No Messenger went to them whom they did not mock. 11 Thus do We make it to enter into the hearts of the guilty; 12 They do not believe in it even though the practice of the ancients has already gone. 13 And even if We opened unto them a gate of heaven and they kept mounting through it, 14 They would only say: "Our eyes have been intoxicated: Nay, we have been bewitched by sorcery." 15