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fī ʾadnā l-ʾarḍi wa-hum min baʿdi ghalabihim sa-yaghlibūna
in a nearby land, but they, after their defeat, will be victorious
— Ali Quli Qarai
30Ar-RūmالرومVerse 3 of 60
The Romans30. Ar-Rūmالروم
Al Rūm
The Romans
MeccanVerse 3 of 60
30Ar-RūmالرومVerse 3 of 60
The Romans
in a nearby land, but they, after their defeat, will be victorious
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Ar-Room – Verses 1-5
1. “’Alif ‘A’, Lam ‘L’, Mim ‘M’.”
2. “The Romans have been defeated.”
3. “In a near land, but they, after being defeated, will soon be victorious,”
4. “Within a few years. To Allah belongs the Command before and after, and on that day the believers shall rejoice.”
5. “With the help of Allah, He helps whom He pleases, and He is the Mighty, the Merciful.”
The Arabic word /bid‘/ means: ‘a piece’, as the Prophet (S) said:
“Fatimah is a piece from me.”
Sometimes the objective meaning of /bid‘/ is a part of time between three to nine years. Question: What relation is there between the triumph of the army of Room over Iranians and the Muslims that the Qur’an says:
Answer: The Prophet of Islam (S) wrote two letters to the kings of Iran and Room and invited them to the religion of Islam. The king of Iran, Khusrow Parviz, tore the letter, but the king of Room respected Prophet’s letter. Muslims liked the Romans who respected Prophet’s letter to be victorious, but they failed in the war, so the Muslims became inconvenient because of that event. By these holy verses Allah gave a good tidings to the Muslims that although Romans failed, they would win the battle thereafter in near future and that victory could make the believers happy.1Yes, a faithful society should not look only its own inside but it must show reaction unto the bitter and sweet events of other nations, too.
The Occasion of Revelation
The great Islamic commentators all believe that the beginning verses of this Surah were sent down for the sake that at that time when the Prophet (S) was at Mecca and the believers were in minority, there happened a fight between Iranians and Romans, and Iranians became victorious. Pagans of Mecca, then, took it as a good omen and considered it as a proof of legitimacy for their own polytheism. They said Iranians were Zoroastrians and polytheists (dualists), but Romans were Christians, the People of the Book’.
Since Iranians overcame Romans, then the final victory belonged to polytheism and Islam would be vanished soon and they (the polytheists) might be victorious. Though such conclusions had no foundation, but, in that atmosphere and that environment, they were not far from effect for propagation amongst those ignorant people. Therefore, that event seemed heavy for the early Muslims. The abovementioned verses were revealed, saying decisively that though Iranians became victorious in that war, after a short time they would bear a failure from Romans. The Qur’an stated even the time of that prophecy and said that that event would happen during a few years.
This decisive prediction of the Qur’an which, from one side, was the sign of the miracle of this heavenly Book and the sign of the relation of its bringer to the infinite knowledge of Allah (s.w.t.) unto the world of Unseen, and on the other side, it was a point opposite to the bibliomancy of the polytheists, encouraged the Muslims in a manner that, it is even said, some of them laid an important wager with the polytheists upon this matter. (At that time the command of the prohibition of these sorts of betting had not been sent down yet.)
However, this Surah is the twenty ninth Surah of the Qur’an which begins with the abbreviated letters. We have repeatedly discussed on the commentary of these abbreviated letters2. The only thing which attracts attention here is that, contrary to many Suras of the Qur’an which begin with abbreviated letters and next to them the words are about the greatness of the Qur’an, in this Surah there is not any discussion upon the greatness of the Qur’an, while the words are about the Roman’s failure and their future victory.
But a careful study makes it clear that this discussion is also the statement of the greatness of the Qur’an, because this prediction is considered as one of the signs of the miracle of the Holy Qur’an and the greatness of this heavenly Book. After mentioning the abbreviated letters, it says:
This failure occurs in a land near you, the people of Mecca, in the North of Arabia, in the land of Syria, the western Rome. Some commentators, like Shaykh Tusi in Tibyan, have said that the purpose of it may be a place near the land of Iranians, that is, it happened in a land which was the nearest point between Turan and Rome.3 It is true that because of the existence of Alif and Lam in the Arabic word /’al ’ard/, the first commentary is more suitable, but as we will explain later, from some view points, the second commentary seems more proper.
Here, there is a third commentary that, maybe from the point of result, does not differ so much from the second commentary. According to this commentary the objective of it is the land of Rome. That is, they confronted defeat then in the nearest parts of their boundaries with Iran; and this points to the importance and depth of this failure. Defeat in far points and distanced boundaries, is not so important. The important matter is that a country is defeated in its nearest boundaries with enemy where it is more powerful and forceful than other places.
Therefore, mentioning the phrase: /fi ’adnal ’ard/ (in a near land) is a hint to the importance of this defeat, and predicting the triumph of the defeated party during a few years in future is of a greater magnificence and it is not predictable but by the way of miracle. Then the verse adds:
The Qur’anic sentence /sayaqlibun/ (they will soon be victorious) was enough for stating the purpose definitely, but the sentence /min ba‘d-i-qalabihim/ (after being defeated) has particularly been added to it in order that the importance of this victory becomes more manifest, because when a defeated group can overcome the enemy in its nearest and strongest boundaries and specially during a short time, it is something unexpectedly, and the Qur’an explicitly predicts this event.
Then, through the next holy verse, the Noble Qur’an states the approximate years of its occurrence, but saying:
And we know that the Arabic word /bid‘/ means a figure at least ‘three’ and at most ‘nine’. If we see that Allah (s.w.t.) predicts the future, it is because everything and every affair is in His authority whether before victory or after the victory of this defeated nation. The verse says:
It is evident that everything being in Allah’s authority and by His command does not hinder our freedom and will for effort and endeavour and striving in the path of obtaining our aims. In other words, this phrase does not intend to negate the authority of others, but it intends to make this matter clear that it is He Who is Mighty by Essence and is the absolute Owner, and whoever possesses anything he has it from His side. Then the verse implies that if today that the Romans failed and the polytheists became happy, on that day when the Romans overcame the believers would become happy.
The verse continues saying:
Yes, by Allah’s help they will be happy. The next Holy verse announces:
Upon the objective meaning of the sentence:
the commentators have delivered different ideas. Some of them have said that this rejoice is because of Roman’s victory, though they themselves were in the row of pagans, too, but since they had heavenly Book their victory over the Zoroastrians, who were polytheists, was one stage of victory of ‘Monotheism’ over ‘polytheism’. Some other commentators have added that the believers became happy for they took this event as a good omen and as an evidence for their victory over the polytheists.
Or their happiness was for the sake that the greatness and truthfulness of the decisive prediction of the holy Qur’an, which itself was counted as an important spiritual victory for the Muslims, appeared on that day. This probability does not seem so far that the Roman victory was simultaneous with one of the Muslims’ victories over the polytheists in particular that some of the statements of the commentators indicate that this victory was simultaneous with the victory of the ‘Badr’ or with the peace agreement of Hudaybiyyah which was counted a great victory.
In particular that the application of “With the help of Allah’ is in consonant with this meaning, too. In short, the Muslims became happy from different points of view on that day because of the victory of the ‘People of the Book’ over the Zoroastrians, which was a scene of the victory of Monotheism against polytheism. This happiness was because of spiritual victory for the appearance of the miracle of the Qur’an. Or it was for the sake of its simultaneous victory of Muslims, probably the peace of Hudaybiyyah or one of other conquests of the Muslims.
Footnotes