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 Soon will the time come when the unbelievers will wish they were Muslims. 2 Leave them alone; let them eat and enjoy themselves the while the hope [of vain delights] beguiles them: for in time they will come to know [the truth]. 3 And never did We destroy a town but it had a term made known. 4 No nation will precede its term, nor will they remain thereafter. 5 And they say: O you to whom the Reminder has been revealed! you are most surely insane: 6 “Why do you not bring angels to us, if you are truthful?” 7 We send not the angels down except for just cause: if they came (to the ungodly), behold! no respite would they have! 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 whenever a Messenger came to them, they never failed to mock him. 11 Thus do We make it traverse the hearts of the guilty: 12 They believe not therein, though the example of the men of old hath gone before. 13 If We opened a gate in the heaven and they kept ascending through it, 14 yet would they say, 'Our eyes have been dazzled; nay, we are a people bewitched!' 15