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 the perspicuous oration. 1 Perhaps those who disbelieve will wish that they had been Muslims. 2 leave them to eat, and to take their joy, and to be bemused by hope; certainly they will soon know! 3 We never destroyed any town without pre-ordaining the fate of its people. 4 No people can outstrip the term for its destruction nor can it delay it. 5 And they say, "O you upon whom the message has been sent down, indeed you are mad. 6 Why do you not bring to us the angels if you are of the truthful ones? 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 And certainly We sent (apostles) before you among the nations of yore. 10 And whenever a Messenger came to them, they never failed to mock him. 11 We place in the hearts of sinners (disbelief). 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 opened upon them a door of the heaven, and they passed the day mounting thereto. 14 They would say, "Our eyes have only been dazzled. Rather, we are a people affected by magic." 15