The Hijjr Valley (Al-Hijjr)
In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful
۞ Alif. Lam. Ra. THESE ARE MESSAGES of revelation - of a discourse clear in itself and clearly showing the truth. 1 The unbelievers would haply like to wish that they had submitted (and become Muslim). 2 leave them to eat, and to take their joy, and to be bemused by hope; certainly they will soon know! 3 And We have not destroyed a town but there was therefor a decree known. 4 and no nation outstrips its term, nor do they put it back. 5 They say: "O thou to whom the Message is being revealed! truly thou art mad (or possessed)! 6 Why bringest thou not angels unto us, if thou art of 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 AND, INDEED, [O Prophet,] even before thy time did We send [Our apostles] unto communities of old 10 But never once an apostle came to them at whom they did not scoff. 11 Thus do We insert denial into the hearts of the criminals. 12 They will not believe in it, though they have before them the example of former peoples, 13 And even if We opened unto them a gate of heaven and they kept mounting through it, 14 They will say all the same: "Our eyes were dazed (and clouded over). We were a people ensorcelled." 15