The Hijjr Valley (Al-Hijjr)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
۞ Alif-Lam-Ra. These are the verses of the Book, and a Qur'an luminous. 1 The disbelievers will ardently wish that if only they had been Muslims! (At the time of death / in their graves / on the Day of Resurrection.) 2 Leave them thou to eat and to enjoy, and let vain hope divert them; presently they will know. 3 And We have not destroyed a town but there was therefor a decree known. 4 No people can hasten on their doom nor can they postpone (it). 5 And yet they say: "You, to whom this Exposition has been sent are surely possessed of the Devil. 6 Why dost thou not bring the angels unto us, if thou speakest truly?' 7 We send not down the angels, save with truth; 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 We sent messengers before you to the previous peoples, 10 and never yet came an apostle to them without their deriding him. 11 Thus do We insert denial into the hearts of the criminals. 12 They believe not therein, and already the example of the ancients hath gone forth. 13 And if We open for them a gate in the heavens, to ascend it through the day – 14 yet would they say, 'Our eyes have been dazzled; nay, we are a people bewitched!' 15