Al-Hijr

Alif Lam Ra These are the verses of the Scripture, a Quran that makes things clear.

The disbelievers may well come to wish they had submitted to God,

so [Prophet] leave them to eat and enjoy themselves. Let [false] hopes distract them: they will come to know.

Never have We destroyed a community that did not have a set time;

no community can bring its time forward, nor delay it.

They say, ‘Receiver of this Quran! You are definitely mad.

Why do you not bring us the angels, if you are telling the truth?’

But We send down the angels only to bring justice and then these people will not be reprieved.

We have sent down the Quran Ourself, and We Ourself will guard it. Even before you [Prophet],

We sent messengers among the various communities of old,

but they mocked every single messenger that came to them:

in this way We make the message slip through the hearts of evildoers.

They will not believe in it. That was what happened with the peoples of long ago,

and even if We opened a gateway into Heaven for them and they rose through it, higher and higher,

they would still say, ‘Our eyes are hallucinating. We are bewitched.’

We have set constellations up in the sky and made it beautiful for all to see,

and guarded it from every stoned satan:

any eavesdropper will be pursued by a clearly visible flame.

As for the earth, We have spread it out, set firm mountains on it, and made everything grow there in due balance.

We have provided sustenance in it for you and for all those creatures for whom you do not provide.

There is not a thing whose storehouses are not with Us. We send it down only according to a well-defined measure:

We send the winds to fertilize, and We bring down water from the sky for you to drink- you do not control its sources.

It is We who give life and death; it is We who inherit [everything].

We know exactly those of you who come first and those who come later.

[Prophet], it is your Lord who will gather them all together: He is all wise, all knowing.

We created man out of dried clay formed from dark mud-

the jinn We created before, from the fire of scorching wind.

Your Lord said to the angels, ‘I will create a mortal out of dried clay, formed from dark mud.

When I have fashioned him and breathed My spirit into him, bow down before him,’

and the angels all did so.

But not Iblis: he refused to bow down like the others.

God said, ‘Iblis, why did you not bow down like the others?’

and he answered, ‘I will not bow to a mortal You created from dried clay, formed from dark mud.’

‘Get out of here!’ said God. ‘You are an outcast,

rejected until the Day of Judgement.’

Iblis said, ‘My Lord, give me respite until the Day when they are raised from the dead.’

‘You have respite,’ said God,

‘until the Day of the Appointed Time.’

Iblis then said to God, ‘Because You have put me in the wrong, I will lure mankind on earth and put them in the wrong,

all except Your devoted servants.’

God said, ‘[Devotion] is a straight path to Me:

you will have no power over My servants, only over the ones who go astray and follow you.

Hell is the promised place for all these,

with seven gates, each gate having its allotted share of them.

But the righteous will be in Gardens with springs-

“Enter them in peace and safety!”––

and We shall remove any bitterness from their hearts: [they will be like] brothers, sitting on couches, face to face.

No weariness will ever touch them there, nor will they ever be expelled.’

[Prophet], tell My servants that I am the Forgiving, the Merciful,

but My torment is the truly painful one.

Tell them too about Abraham’s guests:

when they came to him and said, ‘Peace,’ he said, ‘We are afraid of you.’

‘Do not be afraid,’ they said, ‘We bring you good news of a son who will have great knowledge.’

He said, ‘How can you give me such news when old age has come to me? What sort of news is this?’

They said, ‘We have told you the truth, so do not despair.’

He said, ‘Who but the misguided despair of the mercy of their Lord?’

and then asked, ‘Messengers, what is your errand?’

They replied, ‘We have been sent to a people who are guilty.’

But We shall save the household of Lot,

all except his wife: We have decreed that she will be one of those who stay behind.

When the messengers came to the household of Lot,

he said, ‘You are strangers.’

They said, ‘We have brought you what they said would never happen:

we have brought you the Truth. We speak truly,

so leave in the dead of the night with your household, and walk behind them. Let none of you look back. Go where you are commanded.’

We made this decree known to him: the last remnants of those people would be wiped out in the morning.

The people of the town came along, revelling,

and he told them, ‘These are my guests, do not disgrace me.

Fear God, and do not shame me.’

They answered, ‘Have we not told you not to interfere [between us and] anyone else?’

He said, ‘My daughters are here, if you must.’

By your life [Prophet], they wandered on in their wild intoxication

and the blast overtook them at sunrise:

We turned their city upside down and rained on them a shower of clay stones.

There truly is a sign in this for those who can learn-

it is still there on the highway-

there truly is a sign in this for those who believe.

The forest-dwellers, too, were wrongdoers

and We took retribution on them; both are still there on the highway, plain for all to see.

The people of al-Hijr also rejected Our messengers:

We gave them Our signs, but they turned their backs.

They carved out dwellings in the mountains, and lived in security-

the blast overwhelmed them early in the morning.

What they had gained was of no use to them.

We did not create the heavens and the earth and everything between them without a true purpose: the Hour will certainly come, so [Prophet] bear with them graciously.

Your Lord is the All Knowing Creator.

We have given you the seven oft-recited verses and the whole glorious Quran.

Do not look longingly at the good things We have given some to enjoy. Do not grieve over the [disbelievers], but lower your wings over the believers

and say, ‘I am here to give plain warning,’

like the [warning] We have sent down for those who divide themselves into bands

and abuse the Quran––

by your Lord, We will question them all

about their deeds.

So proclaim openly what you have been commanded [to say], and ignore the idolaters.

We are enough for you against all those who ridicule your message,

who set up another god beside God- they will come to know.

We are well aware that your heart is weighed down by what they say.

Celebrate the glory of your Lord and be among those who bow down to Him:

worship your Lord until what is certain comes to you.