The Hijjr Valley (Al-Hijjr)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most 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 alone, to enjoy (the good things of this life) and to please themselves: let (false) hope amuse them: soon will knowledge (undeceive them). 3 And never have We destroyed any community [for its wrongdoing] unless a divine writ had [previously] been made known to it; 4 Every nation can only live for the time appointed for it. 5 They say: 'Thou, upon whom the Remembrance is sent down, thou art assuredly possessed! 6 If you are a man of truth, why can't you bring the angels to us?" 7 We do not send down the angels except with truth; and the disbelievers would not then be reprieved. 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, INDEED, [O Prophet,] even before thy time did We send [Our apostles] unto communities of old 10 but there was never a messenger who came to them but they mocked him: 11 So We make it enter the hearts of the sinners. 12 They believe not therein, and already the example of the ancients hath gone forth. 13 Yet even had We opened to them a gateway to heaven and they had ascended, on and on, up to it, 14 they would still say, "Our eyes have been dazzled. We are bewitched." 15