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 the perspicuous oration. 1 It may be that those who disbelieve wish ardently that they were Muslims. 2 (Muhammad), leave them alone to eat and enjoy themselves and let their desires deceive them; they will soon know (the Truth). 3 And We destroyed no township but there was a known decree for it. 4 No group may advance its appointed promise nor postpone it. 5 And yet, they [who deny the truth] say: "O thou unto whom this reminder has [allegedly] been bestowed from on high: verily, thou art mad! 6 Why do you not bring us the angels, if you should be among the truthful?" 7 We send not the angels down save with judgment, 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 We sent messengers before you to the previous peoples, 10 No Messenger went to them whom they did not mock. 11 Even so we make a way for it in the hearts of the culprits. 12 They do not believe in it even though the practice of the ancients has already gone. 13 And even if We opened unto them a gate of heaven and they kept mounting through it, 14 They would say: Our sight is wrong - nay, but we are folk bewitched. 15