The Hijjr Valley (Al-Hijjr)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
۞ Alif-Lam-Ra. These are the verses of the Book, and a Qur'an luminous. 1 Perchance the unbelievers will wish that they had surrendered: 2 Leave them thou to eat and to enjoy, and let vain hope divert them; presently they will know. 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 they said, “O you upon whom the Qur’an has been sent, you are indeed insane.” 6 Why do you not bring down the angels, if what you say is true' 7 We send not the angels down except with the truth (i.e. for torment, etc.), and in that case, they (the disbelievers) would 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 Indeed, We sent Messengers before you (O Muhammad SAW) amongst the sects (communities) of old. 10 No Messenger went to them whom they did not mock. 11 Even so do we let it creep into the hearts of the sinners - 12 who do not believe in it, although the way which those [evildoers] of olden times had to go has long been within their ken. 13 Yet even had We opened to them a gateway to heaven and they had ascended, on and on, up to it, 14 They would surely say: "Our eyes have been (as if) dazzled. Nay, we are a people bewitched." 15