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 a clear Qur'an. 1 A time will surely come when those who are bent on denying the truth will wish that they had surrendered themselves to God, 2 Let them eat and enjoy life, and let (false) hope beguile them. They will come to know! 3 Whenever We destroyed a town, a definite term had previously been decreed for it. 4 No nation will precede its term, nor will they remain thereafter. 5 And yet, they [who deny the truth] say: "O thou unto whom this reminder has [allegedly] been bestowed from on high: verily, thou art mad! 6 Why bringest thou not angels unto us if thou art of the truthtellers! 7 We send not the angels down save with judgment, and then they would not be respited. 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 Indeed, We sent Messengers before thee, among the factions of the ancients, 10 and never yet came an apostle to them without their deriding him. 11 Thus do We make it to enter into the hearts of the guilty; 12 They do not believe in the Truth and they exactly follow the tradition of the ancient (unbelievers) 13 And even if We opened to them a gate from the heaven and they were to continue ascending thereto, 14 they would still say, "Our eyes have been dazzled. We are bewitched." 15