وَما أَهلَكنا مِن قَريَةٍ إِلّا وَلَها كِتابٌ مَعلومٌ
We’ve never destroyed a community that didn’t have a known term.
ما تَسبِقُ مِن أُمَّةٍ أَجَلَها وَما يَستَأخِرونَ
No community can accelerate or postpone its appointed time.
وَقالوا يا أَيُّهَا الَّذي نُزِّلَ عَلَيهِ الذِّكرُ إِنَّكَ لَمَجنونٌ
They said, “O you to whom the reminder was revealed, you are surely deranged.”
لَو ما تَأتينا بِالمَلائِكَةِ إِن كُنتَ مِنَ الصّادِقينَ
“Why don’t you bring us the angels, if you are truthful?”
ما نُنَزِّلُ المَلائِكَةَ إِلّا بِالحَقِّ وَما كانوا إِذًا مُنظَرينَ
We only send down angels in truth, and they wouldn’t be restrained.
إِنّا نَحنُ نَزَّلنَا الذِّكرَ وَإِنّا لَهُ لَحافِظونَ
Surely, it is We who revealed the Message, and it is We who will preserve it.
وَلَقَد أَرسَلنا مِن قَبلِكَ في شِيَعِ الأَوَّلينَ
We sent messengers before you to the ancient communities.
وَما يَأتيهِم مِن رَسولٍ إِلّا كانوا بِهِ يَستَهزِئونَ
Yet every messenger that came to them was ridiculed.
كَذٰلِكَ نَسلُكُهُ في قُلوبِ المُجرِمينَ
Thus, We subtly instill it into the hearts of the criminals.
لا يُؤمِنونَ بِهِ ۖ وَقَد خَلَت سُنَّةُ الأَوَّلينَ
They will not have faith in it, though the ways of the ancients have passed away.
وَلَو فَتَحنا عَلَيهِم بابًا مِنَ السَّماءِ فَظَلّوا فيهِ يَعرُجونَ
Even if we were to open up a gate into heaven for them, and they kept ascending through it.