The Hijjr Valley (Al-Hijjr)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ Alif Lam Ra. These are the verses of a clear Book, the Quran. 1 How strongly the unbelievers will wish that they had been Muslims. 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 nation can outstrip its term nor can they lag behind. 5 And they say: O thou unto whom the admonition hath been sent down! verily thou art possessed. 6 Why bringest thou not angels unto us if thou art of the truthtellers! 7 We do not send down angels except for a genuine purpose, at which time none will be given any further 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 And there never came an apostle to them but they mocked him. 11 This is how We cause the hearts of the guilty ones to behave. 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 And if We open for them a gate in the heavens, to ascend it through the day – 14 they would still say, "Our eyes have been dazzled. We are bewitched." 15