The Surah takes its name Ar-Rum from the second verse in which the words ghulibat-ir-Rum have occurred.
The period of the revelation of this Surah is determined by the historical event that has been mentioned at the outset. It says: "The Romans have been vanquished in the neighboring land."In those days the Byzantine occupied territories adjacent to Arabia were Jordan, Syria and Palestine, and in these territories the Romans were completely overpowered by the Iranians in 615 A.D. Therefore, it can be said with absolute certainty that this Surah was sent down in the same year, and this was the year in which the migration to Habash took place.
The prediction made in the initial verses of this Surah is one of the most outstanding evidences of the Quran's being the Word of Allah and the Holy Prophet Muhammad being a true Messenger of Allah. Let us have a look at the historical background relevant to the verses.
Eight years before the advent of the Holy Prophet, the Byzantine Emperor Maurice was overthrown by Phocus, who captured the throne and became king. Phocus executed the five sons of Maurice in front of him, and then had the Emperor killed and hung their heads on a thoroughfare in Constantinople. A few days later he had the empress and her three daughters also put to death. This event provided Khusrau Parvez, the Sassanid King of Iran with a good excuse to attack Byzantium. Emperor Maurice had been his benefactor; with who's help he had got the throne of Iran. Khusrau therefore declared that he would avenge his godfather's murder and that of his children. He started the war against Byzantium in 603 A.D. and within a few years, putting the Phocus armies to rout in succession, he reached Edessa (modern, Urfa) in Asia Minor, on the one hand, and Aleppo and Antioch in Syria, on the other. When the Byzantine ministers saw that Phocus could not save the country, they sought the African governor's help, who sent his son, Heraclius, to Constantinople with a strong fleet. Phocus was immediately deposed and Heraclius made emperor. He treated Phocus as he had treated Maurice. This happened in 610 A. D., the year the Holy Prophet was appointed to Prophethood.
The moral excuse for which Khusrau Parvez had started the war was no more valid after the deposition and death of Phocus. Had the object of his war really been to avenge the murder of his ally on Phocus for his cruelty, he would have come to terms with the new Emperor after the death of Phocus. But he continued the war, and gave it the color of a crusade between Zoroastrianism and Christianity. The sympathies of the Christian sects (i. e. Nestorians and Jacobians, etc.) which had been excommunicated by the Roman ecclesiastical authority and tyrannized for years also went with the Magian (Zoroastrian) invaders, and the Jews also joined hands with them; so much so that the number of the Jews who enlisted in Khusrau's army rose up to 26,000.
Heraclius could not stop this storm. The very first news that he received from the East after ascending the throne was that of the Iranian occupation of Antioch. After this Damascus fell in 613 A. D. Then in 614 A.D. the Iranians occupying Jerusalem played havoc with the Christian world. Ninety thousand Christians were massacred and the Holy Sepulcher was desecrated. The Original Cross on which, according to the Christian belief, Jesus had died was seized and carried to Mada'in. The chief priest Zacharia was taken prisoner and all the important churches of the city were destroyed. How puffed up was Khusrau Parvez at this victory can be judged from the letter that he wrote to Heraclius from Jerusalem. He wrote: "From Khusrau, the greatest of all gods, the master of the whole world: To Heraclius, his most wretched and most stupid servant: You say that you have trust in your Lord. why didn't then your Lord save Jerusalem from me?"
Within a year after this victory the Iranian armies over-ran Jordan, Palestine and the whole of the Sinai Peninsula, and reached the frontiers of Egypt. In those very days another conflict of a far greater historical consequence was going on in Makkah. The believers in One God, under the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah's peace be upon him), were fighting for their existence against the followers of shirk under the command of the chiefs of the Quraish, and the conflict had reached such a stage that in 615 A. D., a substantial number of the Muslims had to leave their homes and take refuge with the Christian kingdom of Habash, which was an ally of the Byzantine Empire. In those days the Sassanid victories against Byzantium were the talk of the town, and the pagans of Makkah were delighted and were taunting the Muslims to the effect: "Look the fire worshipers of Iran are winning victories and the Christian believers in Revelation and Prophethood are being routed everywhere. Likewise, we, the idol worshipers of Arabia, will exterminate you and your religion."
These were the conditions when this Surah of the Quran was sent down, and in it a prediction was made, saying:"The Romans have been vanquished in the neighboring land and within a few years after their defeat, they shall be victorious. And it will be the day when the believers will rejoice in the victory granted by Allah." It contained not one but two predictions: First, the Romans shall be victorious; and second, the Muslims also shall win a victory at the same time. Apparently, there was not a remote chance of the fulfillment of the either prediction in the next few years. On the one hand, there were a handful of the Muslims, who were being beaten and tortured in Makkah, and even till eight years after this prediction there appeared no chance of their victory and domination. On the other, the Romans were losing more and more ground every next day. By 619 A. D. the whole of Egypt had passed into Sassanid hands and the Magian armies had reached as far as Tripoli. In Asia Minor they beat and pushed back the Romans to Bosporus, and in 617 A. D. they captured Chalcedon (modern, Kadikoy) just opposite Constantinople. The Emperor sent an envoy to Khusrau, praying that he was ready to have peace on any terms, but he replied, "I shall not give protection to the emperor until he is brought in chains before me and gives up obedience to his crucified god and adopts submission to the fire god." At last, the Emperor became so depressed by defeat that he decided to leave Constantinople and shift to Carthage (modern, Tunis). In short, as the British historian Gibbon says, even seven to eight years after this prediction of the Quran, the conditions were such that no one could even imagine that the Byzantine Empire would ever gain an upper hand over Iran. Not to speak of gaining domination, no one could hope that the Empire, under the circumstances, would even survive.
bid\`i sinin, and the word bid\` in Arabic applies to a number upto ten. Therefore, make the bet for ten years and increase the number of camels to a hundred." So, Hadrat Abu Bakr spoke to Ubayy again and bet a hundred camels for ten years.
In 622 A. D. as the Holy Prophet migrated to Madinah, the Emperor Heraclius set off quietly for Trabzon from Constantinople via the Black Sea and started preparations to attack Iran from rear. For this he asked the Church for money, and Pope Sergius lent him the Church collections on interest, in a bid to save Christianity from Zoroastrianism. Heraclius started his counter attack in 623 A. D. from Armenia. Next year, in 624 A. D., he entered Azerbaijan and destroyed Clorumia, the birthplace of Zoroaster, and ravaged the principal fire temple of Iran. Great are the powers of Allah, this was the very year when the Muslims achieved a decisive victory at Badr for the first time against the mushriks. Thus both the predictions made in Surah Rum were fulfilled simultaneously within the stipulated period of ten years.
The Byzantine forces continued to press the Iranians hard and in the decisive battle at Nineveh (627 A.D.) they dealt them the hardest blow. They captured the royal residence of Dastagerd, and then pressing forward reached right opposite to Ctesiphon, capital of Iran in those days. In 628 A. D. in an internal revolt, Khusrau Parvez was imprisoned and 18 of his sons were executed in front of him and a few days later he himself died in the prison. This was the year when the peace treaty of Hudaibiya was concluded, which the Quran has termed as "the supreme victory", and in this very year Khusrau's son, Qubad II, gave up all the occupied Roman territories, restored the True Cross and made peace with Byzantium. In 628 A. D., the Emperor himself went to Jerusalem to install the "Holy Cross" in its place, and in the same year the Holy Prophet entered Makkah for the first time after the Hijrah to perform the \`Umra-tul-Qada'.
After this no one could have any doubt about the truth of the prophecy of the Quran, with the result that most of the Arab polytheists accepted Islam. The heirs of Ubayy bin Khalaf lost their bet and had to give a hundred camels to Hadrat Abu Bakr Siddiq. He took them before the Holy Prophet, who ordered that they be given away in charity, because the bet had been made at a time when gambling had not yet been forbidden by the Shari\`ah ; now it was forbidden. Therefore, the bet was allowed to be accepted from the belligerent disbelievers, but instruction given that it should be given away in charity and should not be brought in personal use.
The discourse begins with the theme that the Romans have been overcome and the people the world over think that the empire is about to collapse, but the fact is that within a few years the tables will be turned and the vanquished will again become victorious.
This introductory theme contains the great truth that man is accustomed to seeing only what is apparent and superficial. That which is behind the apparent and superficial he does not know. When in the petty matters of life, this habit to see only the apparent and superficial can lead man to misunderstandings and miscalculations, and when he is liable to make wrong estimates only due to lack of knowledge about "what will happen tomorrow", how stupendous will be his error if he risks his whole life-activity by placing reliance only upon what is visible and apparent with respect to his worldly life as a whole.
In this connection, the Signs of the universe which have been presented as evidence to prove the doctrine of the Hereafter arc precisely the same which support the doctrine of Tauhid. Therefore from verse 28 onward, the discourse turns to the affirmation of Tauhid and the refutation of shirk, and it is stressed that the natural way of life for man is none else but to serve One God exclusively. Shirk is opposed to the nature of the universe as to the nature of man. Therefore, whenever man has adopted this deviation, chaos has resulted. Again here, an allusion has been made to the great chaos that had gripped the world on account of the war between the two major powers of the time, and it has been indicated that this chaos too, is the result of shirk, and all the nations who were ever involved in mischief and chaos in the history of mankind were also mushriks.
In conclusion, a parable has been presented to make the people understand that just as dead earth comes to life, all of a sudden, by a shower of rain sent by God and swells with vegetation and plant life, so is the case with the dead humanity. When God sends a shower of His mercy in the form of Revelation and Prophethood, it also gives a new life to mankind and causes it to grow and develop and flourish. Therefore: "If you take full advantage of this opportunity, the barren land of Arabia will bloom by Allah's mercy and the whole advantage will be your. But if you do not take advantage of it, you will harm only your selves. Then no regret will avail and no opportunity will be provided to make amends."
En el nombre de Allah, el Misericordioso, el Compasivo.
Alif, Lam, Mim.
Los Romanos han sido vencidos*
en la tierra más próxima. Pero ellos, después de haber sido vencidos, vencerán*
dentro de algunos años. El Mandato pertenece a Allah antes y después. Ese día se alegrarán los creyentes*
por el auxilio de Allah. Él auxilia a quien quiere y Él es el Insuperable sin igual, el Compasivo.
Promesa de Allah y Allah no falta a Su promesa; sin embargo la mayor parte de los hombres no saben.
Conocen una parte superficial de la vida del mundo pero viven despreocupados de la Otra Vida.
¿Es que no han reflexionado en sí mismos*? Allah no ha creado los cielos y la Tierra y lo que hay entre ambos sino con la verdad y con un plazo fijado. Y es cierto que muchos de los hombres niegan el encuentro con su Señor.
¿Es que no han ido por la Tierra y han visto cómo acabaron los que les precedieron? Eran más fuertes que ellos en poderío y cultivaron la tierra y florecieron en ella más de lo que ellos han florecido y vinieron a ellos sus Mensajeros con las pruebas claras. Pero Allah no fue injusto con ellos en nada sino que fueron ellos los injustos consigo mismos.
Luego, aquellos que habían cometido maldades tuvieron el peor fin, por haber negado la veracidad de los signos de Allah y haberse burlado de ellos.
Allah inicia la creación, luego vuelve a hacerla y luego volvéis a Él.
El día que llegue la Hora, ese día los malhechores enmudecerán desesperados.
No tendrán ningún intercesor entre los que ellos asociaban (a Allah) y renegarán de esos asociados.
El día que llegue la Hora, ese día se separarán:
Los que creyeron y llevaron a cabo las acciones de bien estarán deleitándose en un vergel.
Pero los que se negaron a creer y negaron la veracidad de Nuestros signos y del encuentro de la Última Vida, estarán permanentemente en el castigo.
Así pues, ¡Glorificado sea Allah! cuando entráis en la tarde y cuando amanecéis.
Suya es la alabanza en los cielos y en la Tierra. Y (glorificado sea) al caer la tarde y cuando entráis en el mediodía.
Hace salir lo vivo de lo muerto y lo muerto de lo vivo y le da vida a la tierra después de muerta. Y así será como saldréis vosotros (de las tumbas).
Parte de Sus signos es que os creó de tierra y luego llegasteis a ser seres humanos con capacidad para desenvolveros.
Y parte de Sus signos es que os creó esposas sacadas de vosotros mismos para que encontrarais sosiego en ellas y puso entre vosotros amor y misericordia; realmente en eso hay signos para gente que reflexiona.
Y parte de Sus signos es la creación de los cielos y de la Tierra y la diversidad de vuestras lenguas y colores. Realmente en eso hay signos para los que tienen conocimiento*.
Y parte de Sus signos es vuestro sueño de noche y de día y vuestra búsqueda de Su favor; realmente en esto hay signos para la gente que escucha.
Y parte de Sus signos es que os hace ver el relámpago con temor y anhelo y hace que caiga agua del cielo con la que vivifica la tierra después de muerta; realmente en eso hay signos para gente que entiende.
Y parte de Sus signos es que el cielo y la Tierra se sostienen por Su Mandato. Luego cuando se os llame una vez desde la tierra, saldréis.
Suyos son quienes están en los cielos y en la Tierra, todos están sujetos a Él.
Él es Quien crea al principio y luego vuelve a crear; y esto es aún más fácil para Él. Él tiene el más alto parangón en los cielos y en la Tierra y Él es el Insuperable sin igual, el Sabio.
Os pone un ejemplo extraído de vosotros mismos: ¿Acaso hay entre los que poseen vuestras diestras, alguno que tenga parte en lo que os damos como provisión, de forma que no hay diferencias y los teméis como os teméis entre vosotros? Así es como explicamos los signos a una gente que razona.
Sin embargo los injustos siguen sus pasiones sin conocimiento. ¿Y quién guiará a quien Allah ha extraviado? No tendrán quien les auxilie.
Mantén tu rostro sin apartarlo de la Adoración primigenia, como ḥanif. La marca original* de Allah, con la que ha marcado a los hombres al crearlos. No se puede reemplazar la creación de Allah. Ésa es la forma de Adoración genuina, sin embargo la mayoría de los hombres no sabe.
Vueltos hacia Él*. Y temedle, estableced el ṣalat y no seáis de los que asocian.
De ésos que han creado divisiones en su práctica de Adoración y se han fragmentado en sectas. Cada facción está contenta con lo suyo.
Y cuando algún perjuicio afecta a los hombres, suplican a su Señor recurriendo a Él, pero luego cuando les da a probar una misericordia procedente de Él, una parte de ellos asocia a otros con su Señor,
para de esta manera ser ingratos con lo que les dimos. Pero disfrutad que ya sabréis.
¿O es que acaso hemos hecho descender sobre ellos alguna prueba que hable a favor de lo que asocian?
Cuando les hacemos probar a los hombres una misericordia se alegran con ella, pero si les sobreviene algún mal, a causa de los que sus manos presentan, entonces se desesperan.
¿Es que no ven que Allah expande la provisión a quien quiere y la restringe (a quien quiere)? Es cierto que en eso hay signos para gente que cree.
Da, pues, el derecho que le corresponde al pariente, al pobre y al viajero. Ello es mejor para los que buscan la faz de Allah. Y ésos son los que cosecharán éxito.
Y lo que déis de más* para que os revierta aumentado en la riqueza de la gente, no crecerá junto a Allah. Pero lo que déis con generosidad buscando la faz de Allah... a ésos se les multiplicará.
Allah es Quien os crea y luego os sustenta, luego os hará morir y luego os devolverá a la vida. ¿Hay alguno de vuestros asociados que pueda hacer algo de eso? ¡Glorificado sea Él y ensalzado por encima de lo que asocian!
La corrupción se ha hecho patente en la tierra y en el mar a causa de lo que las manos de los hombres han adquirido, para hacerles probar parte de lo que hicieron y para que puedan echarse atrás.
Di: Id por la tierra y mirad cuál fue el fin de los que hubo antes. La mayoría de ellos eran asociadores.
Dirige tu rostro hacia la práctica de Adoración auténtica antes de que llegue un día en el que Allah no dará posibilidad de volver. Ese día serán separados.
Quienes se hayan negado a creer, sobre ellos pesará su incredulidad, y quienes hayan obrado con rectitud se habrán preparado el terreno a sí mismos.
Para que Él recompense con Su favor a quienes hayan creído y llevado a cabo las acciones de bien; es cierto que Él no ama a los incrédulos.
Y parte de Sus signos es que envía los vientos anunciando buenas noticias para haceros probar parte de Su misericordia, para que navegue la nave gracias a Su mandato y para que busquéis Su favor y podáis ser agradecidos.
Y he aquí que antes de ti enviamos Mensajeros a sus respectivos pueblos. Fueron a ellos con las pruebas evidentes y Nos vengamos de los que hicieron el mal. Era un deber para Nosotros auxiliar a los creyentes.
Allah es Quien envía los vientos que remueven las nubes, a las que extiende en el cielo como quiere y las fragmenta, y ves cómo la lluvia sale de su interior. Y cuando la hace caer sobre aquellos de Sus siervos que Él quiere, se llenan de júbilo.
A pesar de haber perdido ya la esperanza de que la hiciéramos caer sobre ellos.
Así pues, mira las huellas de la misericordia de Allah: Cómo le da vida a la tierra después de haber estado muerta. Él es Quien devolverá la vida a los muertos y Él tiene poder sobre todas las cosas.
Pero si enviamos un viento y ven que todo se pone amarillo, seguramente empezarán a dejar de creer por su causa.
Y por cierto que tú no vas a hacer que oigan los muertos ni que los sordos escuchen la llamada mientras se alejan dando la espalda.
Tú no puedes guiar a los ciegos sacándolos de su extravío y sólo puedes hacer que escuchen aquellos que creen en Nuestros signos y están sometidos (son musulmanes).
Allah es Quien os ha creado de debilidad y después de ser débiles os ha dado fortaleza y después, tras haberla tenido, os da debilidad de nuevo y vejez. Él crea lo que quiere y es el Conocedor, el Poderoso.
El día en que ocurra la Hora, los que hayan hecho el mal jurarán no haber permanecido (en las tumbas) sino una hora. Del mismo modo mentían.
Y dirán aquellos a los que se les dio el conocimiento y la creencia: Realmente habéis permanecido, tal y como está en el Libro de Allah, hasta el Día del Resurgimiento y éste es el Día del Resurgimiento, sin embargo vosotros no lo sabíais.
Ese día ninguna excusa les servirá a los que fueron injustos ni tendrán oportunidad de complacer (a su Señor).
Realmente en este Corán le hemos puesto al hombre toda clase de comparaciones; pero aunque fueras a ellos con un prodigio, los que no quieren creer dirían: No sois más que farsantes.
Así es como Allah marca los corazones de los que no saben.
Ten pues paciencia porque en verdad la promesa de Allah es verídica, que no te inquieten los que no tienen certeza.