The Hijjr Valley (Al-Hijjr)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Alif-Lam-Ra. [These letters are one of the miracles of the Quran, and none but Allah (Alone) knows their meanings]. These are the Verses of the Book, and a plain Quran. 1 Oft times would those who disbelieve fain that they had been Muslims. 2 so leave them to eat and enjoy themselves and let them be beguiled by vain hopes; for soon they will realise [the truth]. 3 We never destroyed a village whose term had not already been decreed. 4 No nation can anticipate its term, nor delay it. 5 And they say: O thou unto whom the admonition hath been sent down! verily thou art possessed. 6 Why do you not bring down the angels if what you say is true". 7 But We send down the angels only to bring justice and then they will not be reprieved. 8 then they would not be respited. It is We who have sent down the Remembrance, and We watch over it. 9 And We had certainly sent [messengers] before you, [O Muhammad], among the sects of the former peoples. 10 And whenever a Messenger came to them, they never failed to mock him. 11 This is how We make the mocking* enter the hearts of the guilty. (* The acts of disbelief.) 12 They do not believe in him, and the tradition of earlier nations has passed. 13 And even if We opened unto them a gate of heaven and they kept mounting through it, 14 They would certainly say: Only our eyes have been covered over, rather we are an enchanted people. 15