الٓر ۚتِلْكَءَايَـٰتُٱلْكِتَـٰبِوَقُرْءَانٍۢمُّبِينٍۢ١

Alif, Lām, Rā.¹ These are the verses of the Book and a clear Qur’ān [i.e., recitation].

Perhaps those who disbelieve will wish¹ that they had been Muslims.

Let them eat and enjoy themselves and be diverted by [false] hope, for they are going to know.

And We did not destroy any city but that for it was a known decree.

No nation will precede its term, nor will they remain thereafter.

And they say, "O you upon whom the message has been sent down, indeed you are mad.¹

Why do you not bring us the angels, if you should be among the truthful?"

We do not send down the angels except with truth;¹ and they [i.e., the disbelievers] would not then be reprieved.

Indeed, it is We who sent down the message [i.e., the Qur’ān], and indeed, We will be its guardian.

And We had certainly sent [messengers] before you, [O Muḥammad], among the sects of the former peoples.

And no messenger would come to them except that they ridiculed him.

Thus do We insert it [i.e., denial] into the hearts of the criminals.

They will not believe in it, while there has already occurred the precedent of the former peoples.

And [even] if We opened to them a gate from the heaven and they continued therein to ascend,

They would say, "Our eyes have only been dazzled. Rather, we are a people affected by magic."