The Hijjr Valley (Al-Hijjr)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ Alif-Lam-Ra. These are the verses of the Book, and a Qur'an luminous. 1 The unbelievers would haply like to wish that they had submitted (and become Muslim). 2 Let them eat and enjoy themselves and be diverted by [false] hope, for they are going to know. 3 We never destroyed any town without pre-ordaining the fate of its people. 4 No people can hasten on their doom nor can they postpone (it). 5 And they say: O thou unto whom the admonition hath been sent down! verily thou art possessed. 6 "Why bringest thou not angels to us if it be that thou hast the Truth?" 7 But We send down the angels only to bring justice and then they will not 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 But never once an apostle came to them at whom they did not scoff. 11 We place in the hearts of sinners (disbelief). 12 They will not believe in it, while there has already occurred the precedent of the former peoples. 13 And even if We open to them a gateway of heaven, so that they ascend into it all the while, 14 They would say, "Our eyes have only been dazzled. Rather, we are a people affected by magic." 15