The Hijjr Valley (Al-Hijjr)
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful
۞ Alif. Lam. Ra. These are verses of the Scripture and a plain Reading. 1 Soon will the time come when the unbelievers will wish they were Muslims. 2 Let them eat and enjoy life, and let (false) hope beguile them. They will come to know! 3 And never did We destroy a town but it had a term made known. 4 [but remember that] no community can ever forestall [the end of] its term - and neither can they delay [it]. 5 And they say: O thou unto whom the Reminder is revealed, lo! thou art indeed a madman! 6 Why bringest thou not angels unto us, if thou art of the truthful? 7 We do not send down the angels (in frivolity); and when We do send them down, We do so with Truth; then people are granted 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 thee, among the factions of the ancients, 10 No Messenger went to them whom they did not mock. 11 Even so do We [now] cause this [scorn of Our message] to pervade the hearts of those who are lost in sin, 12 They believe not therein, and already the example of the ancients hath gone forth. 13 and even if We opened to them a door from heaven, and they began ascending through it, 14 still they would say: 'Our eyes were dazzled; truly, we must have been a bewitched people' 15