The Hijjr Valley (Al-Hijjr)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Alif Lam Ra. These are the verses of the Book and (of) a Quran that makes (things) clear. 1 Perhaps those who disbelieve will wish that they had been Muslims. 2 Let them eat and enjoy themselves and be diverted by [false] hope, for they are going to know. 3 And never did We destroy a township but there was a known decree for it. 4 No nation can outstrip its term nor can they lag behind. 5 They say: 'You to whom the Remembrance is sent down, you are indeed mad. 6 Why do you not bring down the angels, if what you say is true' 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 And We had certainly sent [messengers] before you, [O Muhammad], among the sects of the former peoples. 10 And no messenger would come to them except that they ridiculed him. 11 So We make it enter the hearts of the sinners. 12 They do not believe in it even though the practice of the ancients has already gone. 13 If We opened a gate in the heaven and they kept ascending through it, 14 They would certainly say: Only our eyes have been covered over, rather we are an enchanted people. 15