The Hijjr Valley (Al-Hijjr)
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Alif-Lam-Ra. These are the verses of the Book, and a Qur'an luminous. 1 Perhaps those who disbelieve will 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 We never destroyed a village whose term had not already been decreed. 4 Neither can a people anticipate its term, nor delay it. 5 And they say, "O you upon whom the message has been sent down, indeed you are mad. 6 Why do you not bring to us the angels if you are of the truthful ones? 7 We do not send the angels but with truth, and then they would not be respited. 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 assuredly We have sent apostles before thee among the sects of the ancients. 10 And never came there unto them a messenger but they did mock him. 11 Thus do We make it traverse the hearts of the guilty: 12 they do not believe in it. This has been the wont of people of this kind from ancient times. 13 If We were even to open for them a way to the heavens, and they could continually climb up to it in broad daylight, 14 they would have said, "Our eyes are bewildered and we have been affected by magic." 15