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 A time will surely come when those who are bent on denying the truth will wish that they had surrendered themselves to God, 2 Leave them that they may eat and enjoy themselves and (that) hope may beguile them, for they will soon know. 3 And every dwelling that We destroyed, had a known decree for it. 4 No people can hasten or delay the term already fixed for them. 5 And they say: O thou unto whom the admonition hath been sent down! verily thou art possessed. 6 Why bringest thou not angels unto us, if thou art of the truthful? 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 certainly We sent (apostles) before you among the nations of yore. 10 and not a single Messenger came to them, but they mocked at him; 11 Even so do We [now] cause this [scorn of Our message] to pervade the hearts of those who are lost in sin, 12 They do not believe in him, and the tradition of earlier nations has passed. 13 And even if We opened unto them a gate of heaven and they kept mounting through it, 14 they would have said, "Our eyes are bewildered and we have been affected by magic." 15