The Hijjr Valley (Al-Hijjr)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Alif. Lam. Ra. These are verses of the Scripture and a plain Reading. 1 The unbelievers would haply like to wish that they had submitted (and become Muslim). 2 Let them eat and enjoy life, and let (false) hope beguile them. They will come to know! 3 Never did We destroy a population that had not a term decreed and assigned beforehand. 4 No people can hasten or delay the term already fixed for them. 5 And they say: O thou unto whom the Reminder is revealed, lo! thou art indeed a madman! 6 Why do you not bring down the angels if what you say is true". 7 We do not send down the angels except with truth; and the disbelievers would not then be reprieved. 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, [O Prophet,] even before thy time did We send [Our apostles] unto communities of old 10 And not an apostle came unto them but at him they were wont to mock. 11 Thus do We let it (polytheism and disbelief) enter into the hearts of the Mujrimun [criminals, polytheists, pagans, etc. (because of their mockery at the Messengers)]. 12 They believe not therein, though the example of the men of old hath gone before. 13 And if We open for them a gate in the heavens, to ascend it through the day – 14 They would say: Our sight is wrong - nay, but we are folk bewitched. 15