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 (of) a Quran that makes (things) clear. 1 Soon will the time come when the unbelievers will wish they were Muslims. 2 leave them to eat, and to take their joy, and to be bemused by hope; certainly they will soon know! 3 And We did not destroy any city but that for it was a known decree. 4 No nation can outstrip its term, nor do they put it back. 5 And they say: O thou unto whom the Reminder is revealed, lo! thou art indeed a madman! 6 Why bringest thou not angels unto us, if thou art of the truthful? 7 We do not send angels except with the truth. Then they shall have no respite. 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 indeed We sent Noble Messengers before you, to the former nations. 10 but there was never a messenger who came to them but they mocked 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 believe not therein, though the example of the men of old hath gone before. 13 And even if We opened unto them a gate of heaven and they kept mounting through it, 14 yet would they say, 'Our eyes have been dazzled; nay, we are a people bewitched!' 15