Surah 30

Al-Rūm

(The Romans)

(Makkan Period)

Title

The word al-Rum occurs at the very outset of the surah. Hence the surah's title derives from this.

Period of Revelation

The historical event to which the surah refers at the very outset enables us to establish with certainty the period of its revelation. Verses 2-3 read: "The Romans have been defeated in the neighbouring land."

At the time the surah was revealed, Jordan, Syria and Palestine - the lands adjacent to Arabia - were under Roman control. However, in 615 C.E. the Persians defeated the Romans and completed their occupation of these lands. It can, therefore, be safely said that this surah was revealed in 615 C.E. The Muslims' migration to Abyssinia also took place in the same year.

Historical Background

The prophecy made in the opening part of the surah - namely, that the Romans would prevail in the course of just a few years - constitutes a conclusive piece of evidence that the Qur'an is the Word of God. It is also among the most outstanding testimonies to the truthfulness of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) as God's Messenger. In order to have a better understanding of this prophecy, it is necessary to take into consideration the historical events pertinent to these verses.

Some eight years before the proclamation of Muhammad (peace be on him) as a Prophet, the Roman emperor, Maurice, (r. 582-602 C.E.) was confronted with rebellion as a result of which he was overthrown by Phocas who seized the throne. After gaining victory, Phocas (r. 602-610 C.E.) first had five of Emperor Maurice's sons put to death with their father as witness, and some time later Maurice himself was also executed. Not only that, Phocas also had their severed heads hung in the empire's capital, Constantinople. A few days thereafter, he also ordered that the empress and her three daughters be put to death. This provided Khusraw II [r. 590- 628], the Sasanid emperor of Persia, with a moral pretext to invade the Roman Empire. This, because Maurice was his benefactor and it was with his support that Khusraw II had been able to accede to the Persian throne. No wonder he used to address Maurice as his father. Accordingly, he declared that he would take revenge on Phocas for the blood of Maurice and his family. In 603 C.E., he commenced his war against Persia.

Within a few years, having inflicted a series of successive defeats on Phocas's army, Khusraw II made his way up to Edessa, (presently known as Urfa), in Asia Minor and up to Aleppo and Antioch in Syria. The Roman chiefs, realising that Phocas was in no position to defend the state, requested the African governor to provide military aid. The governor despatched a powerful fleet to Constantinople under the leadership of his son, Heraclius. Soon after Heraclius reached Constantinople, Phocas was deposed and Heraclius was sworn in as emperor. On ascending to the throne, Heraclius (r. 610-641 C.E.) treated Phocas exactly as the latter had treated his predecessor, Maurice. This happened in 610 C.E., the year in which God entrusted Prophethood to Muhammad (peace be on him).

The moral grounds on which Khusraw II had declared war against the Romans were no longer valid after the overthrow and assassination of Phocas. Had his only objective been to punish the usurper Phocas, this had already been achieved and Khusraw II should have entered into a peace agreement with the new emperor. However, instead, Khusraw II continued his military onslaught. In fact, he projected this war as a fight between Zoroastrianism and Christianity. The sympathy of some Christian sects, namely the Neostrians and Jacobites, which had been excommunicated and had suffered persecution for years at the hands of the Roman ecclesiastical authority, lay with the Zoroastrian invaders. The Jews too extended their support to the invaders so much so that the number of Jews enlisted in Khusraw II's army totalled 26,000.

Heraclius could not stem the tide of Khusraw II's advancing army. Soon after his ascension to the imperial throne, he received the news that Antioch had fallen to the enemy. Damascus fell in 613 C.E. In 614 C.E., the Persians gained control of Jerusalem and wreaked havoc on the Christians. In this respect, 90,000 Christian inhabitants of Jerusalem were slain. Furthermore, the Sanctum Sanctorum, the Holy Sepulchre, was destroyed. The Persians seized the True Cross which the Christians believed to be the one on which the Prophet Jesus (peace be on him) had been crucified, and transported it to Ctesiphon (Mada'in). The chief priest, Zecharias was taken prisoner and all the important churches of the town were razed to the ground. Khusraw II was totally inebriated by this victory as is evident from the letter he wrote to Heraclius from Jerusalem:

Khusraw, greatest of gods and master of the whole earth, to Heraclius his vile and insane slave. You say that you trust in your god. Why, then, has he not delivered Jerusalem out of my hands? (Percy Sykes, A History of Persia, London: Macmillan, 1958, Vol. I, p. 483.)

Within a year of this victory, the Persian army had established its control over Jordan, Palestine and the entire Sinai Peninsula and even began to knock at Egypt's gates. Around the same period, a clash of more far-reaching consequence took place in Makkah. Of these two forces, one was led by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) who championed the cause of monotheism, and the other was led by the Quraysh chiefs who stood for polytheism. Things had come to such a pass that a large number of Muslims had had to leave their hearth and home and take refuge in the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia, an ally of the Roman Empire. In those days, news of the Persians' victory over the Romans was on everyone's lips in Makkah. The Makkan polytheists rejoiced at the Persians' victory, taunting the Muslims that the fire-worshippers of Persia had subdued the Christians who, like the Muslims, believed in revelation and prophecy. They also ominously predicted that they - the idolaters of Arabia - would gain a similar victory against the Muslims, obliterating not only them but their faith, Islam, as well.

It was against such a backdrop that this surah was revealed. Contrary to the dominant trend at the time, the surah categorically prophesied that:

The Romans have been defeated in the neighbouring land; but after their defeat they shall gain victory in a few years... On that day will the believers rejoice at the victory granted by Allah (al-Rum 30:2-5).

This passage in fact contains two prophecies: one, that the Romans would gain ascendancy over the Persians, and two, that it would be around the same time that the Muslims would emerge victorious. There was nothing in the objective conditions obtaining at that time to provide any reasonable basis for the hope that these prophecies would come true within a few years. For, on the one hand, there was only a handful of Muslims in Makkah and these were being remorselessly persecuted and relentlessly pursued by their tormentors. In fact, it was not until eight years after this prophecy that there was any indication that the Muslims would grow into a force formidable enough to achieve a convincing victory against their enemies. On the other hand, the Romans were being increasingly routed at the hands of the Persians, so much so that by 619 C.E. the whole of Egypt had fallen to them. Indeed, the Persian army had continued to force its way as far as the vicinity of Tripoli, strutting abroad as victors. The same story was repeated in Asia Minor where the Persian army rampaged. In 619 C.E. it reached the shores of the Bosphorus and captured Chalcedon (presently called Kadiköy), in the vicinity of Constantinople. The Roman emperor sent his emissary to Khusraw II, imploring him, in utter servility, to conclude a peace treaty, and expressing his desire to do so at every cost. Khusraw II, however, contemptuously spurned the offer, saying: "I shall not grant protection to the emperor until he is brought in chains before me, abjures obeisance to his crucified god, and pledges allegiance to the fire-god."

In utter frustration, Heraclius planned to abandon Constantinople and move to Carthage, presently called Tunis. According to the British historian, Edward Gibbon:

At the time when this prediction is said to have been delivered, no prophecy could be more distant from its accomplishment, since the first twelve years (AD 610-622) of Heraclius announced the approaching dissolution of the empire. (Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 5th ed. London: Methuen, 1924, p. 74.)

When the Qur'anic verses embodying the above prophecies were revealed, the Makkan unbelievers made them the butt of their ridicule. Ubayy ibn Khalaf had a bet with Abu Bakr that if the Romans gained victory within three years, he would give him ten camels; and vice versa. When the Prophet (peace be on him) came to know of this, he asked Abū Bakr to stipulate a period of ten years and to increase the bet from ten to a hundred camels. This, because the expression used in the verse (bid'a sinīn) covers a period of up to ten years. Abu Bakr, therefore, revised the terms of the bet with Ubayy. Under the new terms, the loser was required to pay one hundred camels to the winner. (See Tirmidhi, K. al-Tafsir, Bāb: Wa min Sürat al-Rūm; Țabarī, Tafsīr, comments on al-Rum 30:40 - Ed.)

In 622 C.E. the Prophet (peace be on him) migrated to Madīnah. It was around the same time that Heraclius quietly left Constantinople along the Black Sea route and made necessary preparations to attack Persia from the rear. To launch this counterattack, Heraclius appealed to the Church for money. In response, Pope Sergius lent him the wealth that the Church had accumulated through the offerings it had received from its followers. (The Pope, however, lent this money, which was meant to rescue Christianity from the clutches of Zoroastrianism, on interest.) Heraclius launched his attack in 623 C.E., Armenia being his first target. The following year, in 624 C.E., he was able to penetrate into Azerbaijan and destroy Clorumia, the birthplace of Zoroaster, ravaging in his course the Persians' largest fire-temple. It was part of Divine dispensation that at the same time the Muslims achieved their first victory, quite a decisive one, against the polytheists at Badr. Thus the two prophecies made in Sūrah al-Rūm came true almost simultaneously and before the expiry of ten years after their revelation.

Subsequently the Romans continued their onward march, crushing the Persians in every encounter, not least in the crucial Battle of Nineveh, in 627 C.E. Then they ravaged Dastagird which housed the Persian royalty. Soon thereafter Heraclius marched triumphantly to Ctesiphon, the Persian Empire's capital. In 628 C.E., an internal revolt broke out in Khusraw's own palace. Khusraw himself was taken captive and his 18 sons were put to death before his own eyes. After a few days, he too died unable to withstand the severe hardships of captivity. This coincided with the signing of the Ḥudaybīyah Treaty, which the Qur'ān terms as a "clear victory" (Surah al-Fatḥ 48:1). In the same year, Khusraw's son, Kavad II, concluded peace with the Romans and returned to them all the conquered territories and further, in 629 C.E., travelled all the way to Jerusalem to restore the Holy Cross at its original site. It was in the same year that the Prophet (peace be on him) entered Makkah for the first time after the Hijrah to perform 'Umrah which he had postponed earlier in keeping with one of the conditions of the Treaty of Hudaybiyah.

Following all these developments there remained no doubt that the Qur'ānic prophecies had come true. As a result, a large number of Arabian polytheists embraced Islam. The heirs of Ubayy ibn Khalaf conceded defeat in the bet that Ubayy had made with Abū Bakr and, in consequence, they paid him a hundred camels. Abū Bakr presented these to the Prophet (peace be on him) who directed that they be given in charity. It should be remembered that the bet had been made at a time when gambling had not yet been declared unlawful. By the time the Romans had regained the ascendency, gambling had, however, been prohibited. Hence the Prophet (peace be on him) allowed Abu Bakr to receive a hundred camels from the unbelievers who were in a state of war with the Muslims. However, he also directed him to give his gains to charity.

Subject Matter and Themes

The surah opens with the statement that the Romans had been defeated. Yet, contrary to popular perception at the time that the days of the Roman Empire were numbered, it was asserted that a sea change would occur in a matter of only a few years. The Romans, who had just then been subdued and overpowered, would emerge as triumphant and prevail.

These introductory remarks imply that man, superficial as he is, is prone to draw inferences merely on the basis of what he observes. He cannot, however, see what lies behind appearances. This often leads to misperceptions and miscalculations. Man is prone to err as he is incapable of knowing what will happen in the future. This handicap makes him susceptible to miscalculations. This being so, how catastrophic it is for man to risk the very capital of his life, basing himself merely on his own superficial knowledge.

The discourse on the confrontation between the Roman and Persian Empires is, however, placed later in the broader context of the Hereafter. Quite a number of verses (see vv. 1-27) of this surah impress, in a variety of ways, that the Next Life definitely lies within the range of the possible, that its occurrence eminently stands to reason, that it is in fact imminently essential. Furthermore, belief in the Hereafter is also necessary to keep human life on a sound keel. Were man to plan for his life without firmly believing in the Next Life, he would inevitably land himself in the same mire that ensues from being carried away by mere appearances.

While advancing arguments in support of the Hereafter, the Qur'ān invokes the testimony of the same phenomena of the Universe that also confirms monotheism. Accordingly, from verse 28 onwards the surah turns to an affirmation of monotheism and a refutation of polytheism. It stresses that the religious faith rooted in man's nature consists of exclusively consecrating service and worship to the One True God. As for polytheism, it is opposed both to the nature of the Universe and to man's own inherent nature. Besides, its adoption always gives rise to corruption and evil. Attention is then drawn to the colossal evils resulting from the conflict between the Roman and Persian Empires, the two rival powers of the time. These evils, too, had their roots in polytheism. The fact rather is that all communities in human history that had succumbed to evil were immersed in polytheism.

At the conclusion of this discourse, a parable is invoked. The rain that God suddenly sends down renews the dead earth which is instantly revived and begins to flush with life and blossom. The same happens when Messengers are raised and through them revelation is communicated to mankind, causing a revival in human life. Like rainfall, Prophethood and revelation also represent God's mercy and compassion for humanity for they bring about fresh life and growth and give rise to goodness and well-being all around.

Should the Arabs avail themselves of the blessings of revelation, God's mercy will cause their desolate land to blossom with every kind of good. But if they fail to do so, they will only hurt themselves. Thereafter, even if they grieve over their mistakes, this will do them no good and the time to make amends will already have passed.