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 Perchance the unbelievers will wish that they had surrendered: 2 Leave them to eat and enjoy, and let them be preoccupied with (false) hope. They will come to know! 3 Never did We destroy a population that had not a term decreed and assigned beforehand. 4 Every nation can only live for the time appointed for it. 5 They say, "You to whom the Reminder [the Quran] has been sent down, you are surely possessed. 6 Why do you not bring us the angels, if you should be among the truthful?" 7 We do not send down angels without reason, and if the angels descend they would not get any 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 We have sent forth before you Messengers among the factions of the ancients. 10 And no messenger would come to them except that they ridiculed him. 11 Even so we make a way for it in the hearts of the culprits. 12 They would not believe in it (the Quran), and already the example of (Allah's punishment of) the ancients (who disbelieved) has gone forth. 13 Though We opened to them a gate in heaven, and still they mounted through it, 14 they would still say, "Our eyes have been dazzled. We are bewitched." 15