The Hijjr Valley (Al-Hijjr)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ ALIF LAM RA. These are the verses of the Book and the perspicuous oration. 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 thou to eat and to enjoy, and let vain hope divert them; presently they will know. 3 We never destroyed a village whose term had not already been decreed. 4 No people can hasten or delay the term already fixed for them. 5 They say: 'You to whom the Remembrance is sent down, you are indeed mad. 6 Why do you not bring down the angels upon us, if you are truthful?" 7 We do not send down angels except for a genuine purpose, at which time none will be given any further respite. 8 Behold, it is We Ourselves who have bestowed from on high, step by step, this reminder; and behold, it is We who shall truly guard it [from all corruption]. 9 And assuredly We have sent apostles before thee among the sects of the ancients. 10 No Messenger went to them whom they did not mock. 11 This is how We make the mocking* enter the hearts of the guilty. (* The acts of disbelief.) 12 They do not believe in it even though the practice of the ancients has already gone. 13 And if We opened upon them a door of the heaven, and they passed the day mounting thereto. 14 They would say, "Our eyes have only been dazzled. Rather, we are a people affected by magic." 15