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In the name
of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful |
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SECTION: 1
Alif Lăm M'ďm.[1] The Romans have been defeated (by the
Persians, in Syria - A.D. 615; the Prophet Muhammad’s sympathies
were with the Romans who were Christians, while the pagan Arabs
were on the side of the Persians who were idol worshippers)[2]
in the neighboring land, but after this defeat, they will soon
be victorious[3] within a few years. The command lies with Allah
in the past instance as well as in the future. On that day the
believers will rejoice[4] for the victory of the Romans as
well as their own victory against the pagans with the help
of Allah. He helps whom He pleases and He is the All-Mighty, the
Most Merciful.[5] This is the promise of Allah and Allah never
breaks His promise; but most people do not know.[6] They only
know the outward show of this world’s life, but they are
heedless about the life to come.[7] Have they not considered in
their own minds that Allah created the heavens and the earth and
all that lies between them for a just reason and for a specified
time? But the truth is that many among mankind do not believe in
the meeting with their Rabb (the Day of Resurrection)![8]
Have they not traveled through the earth and seen what was the
end of those before them? They were superior in strength than
these; they tilled the soil and built on it more than these have
ever built. There came to them their Rasools with clear signs (but
they rejected them to the detriment of their own destruction):
it was not Allah Who wronged them, but they wronged their own
souls.[9] Evil was the outcome for those who committed evil,
rejected the revelations of Allah and kept ridiculing them![10]
30:[1-10] |
The Roman's (Christians') defeat at the hands of the Persian
(Pagans) was taken as a sign of the Muslims' defeat at the hands
of Arab unbelievers, so Allah gave good tidings for the Roman
victory as well as the Muslim victory in a few years
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SECTION: 2
It is Allah Who originates creation; then repeats it, and then
to Him you shall be brought back.[11] On the Day when the Hour
of Judgement will be established, the criminals shall be in
despair.[12] None of their shorakă' (gods which they had set
up besides Allah), will be there to intercede for them and
they themselves will disown their shorakă'.[13] On that Day when
the Hour of Judgement will be established, mankind
will be sorted out.[14] Those who have embraced the faith and
have done good deeds shall be made happy in a garden of
paradise.[15] And those who have rejected Faith, denied Our
revelations and the meeting of the hereafter shall be presented
for punishment.[16] Therefore, glorify Allah in the evening and
in the morning[17] - all praise is due to Him in the heavens and
the earth - so glorify Him in the late afternoon and when
the day begins to decline.[18] He brings out the living from the
dead and the dead from the living, and gives life to the earth
after its death. Likewise you shall be brought forth to life
after your death.[19]
30:[11-19] |
It is Allah Who originates creation and then repeats it and to
Him everyone will be brought for the final Judgement
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SECTION: 3
Of His signs, one is that He created you from dust; and then
behold you men are scattered throughout the earth.[20]
And of His signs, another one is that He created for you mates
from among yourselves that you may find comfort with them, and
He planted love and kindness in your hearts; surely there are
signs in this for those who think about it.[21] And yet others
of His signs are the creation of the heavens and the earth, and
the difference of your languages and colors; surely there are
signs in this for the knowledgeable.[22] And among His signs is
your sleep at night and quest for His bounty during the day;
surely there are signs in this for those who pay heed.[23] And
of His signs is the showing of lightning, in which there is fear
as well as hope, and He sends down rainwater from the sky and
with it gives life to the earth after its death; surely there
are signs in this for those who use their common sense.[24] And
of His signs are the firmly standing heaven and earth by His
command; then as soon as He will summon you out of the earth,
you shall come forth at one call.[25] To Him belongs everything
that is in the heavens and the earth; all are obedient to
Him.[26] He it is Who originates creation, then repeats it; and
it is easy for Him. To Him belongs the highest similitude in the
heavens and the earth, and He is the All-Mighty, the
All-Wise.[27]
30:[20-27] |
The creation of man, his consort, heavens, earth, language,
colors, sleep, quest for work, lightning, rain and growth of
vegetation - all are signs of Allah |
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SECTION: 4
We give you an example from your own lives. Do you let your
slaves be equal partners in the wealth which We have given you?
Do you fear them as you fear each other? Thus do We spell out
Our revelations for those who use their common sense.[28] Nay!
The wrongdoers are led by their own desires, without real
knowledge. So who can guide those whom Allah leaves astray? They
will have no helpers.[29] Therefore, stand firm in your devotion
to the upright faith - the nature made by Allah, the one on
which mankind is created - and the laws of Nature
ordained by Allah cannot be changed. That is the standard of
true faith, but most among mankind do not know.[30] Turn in
repentance to Him, fear Him, establish Salah (regular five
times daily prayers) and do not be of the mushrikďn[31] -
those who divide their religion into sects and become
separate groups, each group rejoicing in its own circle.[32]
30:[28-32] |
The wrongdoers are led by their own desires without real
knowledge
True faith and the nature of sects |
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When an affliction befalls the people, they
turn in prayer to their Rabb in repentance. But when He let them
taste a blessing from Him, lo! Some of them start committing
shirk,[33] showing no gratitude for What We have given them.
Enjoy yourselves; soon you will find out your folly.[34]
Have We sent down to them an authority, that speaks of the shirk
which they are committing?[35] When We give mankind a taste of
blessing, they rejoice, but when some evil afflicts them because
of their own misdeeds, lo! They are in despair.[36] Do they not
see that it is Allah Who gives abundantly to whom He pleases and
sparingly to whom He wills? Surely there are signs in this
example for those who believe.[37]
30:[33-37] |
When
an affliction befalls people they call upon Allah, but when He
relieves them, lo! They start committing shirk |
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O believers, give what is due to your
relatives, the needy and the traveller in need. That is best for
those who seek the pleasure of Allah and it is they who will
attain felicity.[38] That usury which you give to increase the
wealth of people, does not increase with Allah: but the Zakah
that you give to seek the pleasure of Allah, shall be repaid to
you many times over.[39] It is Allah Who has created you, then
provides you your daily bread, then He causes you to die, and
then He will bring you back to life. Is there any of your
shorakă' (associates you have set up besides Allah) who
can do any of these things? Glory be to Him, and exalted be He
above the shirk these people commit.[40]
30:[38-40]
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Commandment to give ones relatives their due and likewise to the
poor and the travellers in need |
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SECTION: 5
Mischief (war between Roman and Persian empires) has
appeared in the land and the sea in consequence of man’s own
misdeeds. Through such wars Allah let people taste the
fruit of their deeds, so that they may turn back from evil.[41]
O Prophet, tell them: “Travel through the earth and see
what was the end of those who have passed away before you: most
of them were mushrikďn (worshipped other gods besides Allah).”[42]
Therefore stand firm in your devotion to the true faith before
that Day arrives on which there will be no chance of averting
from Allah. On that Day, they shall be divided in two groups.[43]
Those who disbelieved will bear the burden of their disbelief,
and those who have done good deeds will be made ready for their
home in paradise,[44] so that He may, out of His mercy,
reward those who have believed and done good deeds. Surely He
does not like the disbelievers.[45]
30:[41-45] |
Mischief in the land is the result of Man's own misdeeds. That
is how Allah let them taste the fruit of their deeds
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Of His signs is that He sends the winds as
bearers of good news, and that He may let you taste His
blessing, and your ships may sail by His command, and that you
may seek of His bounty, and that you may be grateful.[46] We
sent before you Rasools to their respective people, and they
brought them clear signs. Some rejected them while others
believed, then We subjected the guilty ones to Our
retribution and We aided the believers - it is due on Us to help
the Believers.[47] It is Allah Who sends the winds to raise the
clouds, then He spreads them in the sky and breaks them into
fragments as He pleases, then you see raindrops falling from
their midst. When He showers this rain upon those of His
servants whom He pleases, lo! They are filled with joy,[48]
though before its coming they may have lost all hope.[49] Just
look at the traces of Allah’s Mercy! How He gives life to the
earth after its death. Surely the same way He will give life to
the dead; for He has power over all things.[50] And if We send a
wind which turns their crops yellow, behold they will
become even more firm in their disbelief.[51] O Prophet,
you cannot make the dead hear you, nor can you make the deaf
hear your call especially when they have turned their backs and
are running away;[52] nor can you guide the blind out of their
error. None will hear you save those who believe in Our
revelations and submit themselves as Muslims.[53]
30:[46-53] |
Allah sent His Rasools for the guidance of people; some believed
while others rejected, Allah subjected the guilty to His
retribution and helped the Believers |
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SECTION: 6
It is Allah Who has created you in a state of helplessness as
a baby, then gave you strength to come out of helplessness
in youth, then after strength again helplessness and grey
hair in old age. He creates whatever He wills and it is
He Who is the All-knowing, the Almighty.[54] On the Day when the
Hour of Judgement will be established, the criminals will
swear that they did not stay in this world more than an
hour; thus are they ever deluded.[55] But those who are given
knowledge and faith will say: “In fact you have stayed,
according to the Book of Allah, till the Day of Resurrection and
this is the Day of Resurrection: but you were not aware."[56] On
that Day, no excuse of theirs will avail the wrongdoers, nor
will they be allowed to seek forgiveness.[57] The fact is that
We have set forth every kind of example for men in this Qur’an,
but whatever sign you may bring, the unbelievers are sure to
say: “You are preaching falsehood."[58] Thus Allah has set a
seal on the hearts of those who do not use their common
sense.[59] So O Prophet, have patience: surely the
promise of Allah is true; and do not let those, who themselves
have no certainty of faith, shake your firmness.[60]
30:[44-60] |
O Prophet, you cannot make the dead to hear you
It is Allah Who has created you and shall bring you to justice
on the Day of Judgement |
Major Issues, Divine
Law and Guidance:
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* The Roman’s (Christian’s) defeat at the
hands of Persians (pagans) was considered by Makkans a sign of
the Muslim’s defeat at the hands of Arab unbelievers.
* Prophecy of the Roman's victory against Persians and the
Muslims victory against the disbelievers.
* Allah has originated the creation and He will resurrect the
dead for final judgement.
* Creation of Man, his Consort, Heaven, Earth, Language, Colors,
Sleep, Quest for work, Lightning, Rain and Growth of vegetation
- all are signs from Allah.
* Wrongdoers are those who are led by their own desires without
real knowledge.
* True Faith vs. Sects and shirk.
* Commandment to give relatives their due and take care of the
poor and travellers in need.
* Mischief in the land is due to Man’s own misdeeds.
* Allah tells the Prophet: "O Prophet! You can not make the dead
hear you."
Condition of Human Society at that time:
The prediction made in the initial verses of this Sürah is one
of the most outstanding evidences of the Qur'an being the Word
of Allah. Research scholar Abul A'lă Maudüdi narrated the
historical background relevant to this Sürah as follows:
“Eight years before the Prophet’s advent as a Prophet, the
Byzantine Emperor Maurice was overthrown by Phocus, who captured
the throne and became king. Phocus first had the Emperor’s five
sons executed in front of him, and then had the Emperor killed
and hung their heads in a thoroughfare in Constantinople. A few
days after this, he had the empress and her three daughters also
put to death. The event provided Khusrau Parvez, the Sassăni
king of Persia; a good moral excuse to attack Byzantine. Emperor
Maurice had been his benefactor; with his help he had got the
throne of Persia. Therefore, he declared that he would avenge
his godfather’s and his children’s murder upon Phocus, the
usurper. So, he started a war against the Byzantines in 603 CE
and within a few years, putting the Phocus armies to rout in
succession, he reached Edessa (modern, Urfa) in Asia Minor, on
the one front, 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, Hercules, to Constantinople with a strong fleet. Phocus was
immediately deposed and Hercules was made emperor. He treated
Phocus as he had treated Maurice. This happened in 610 CE, the
year the Prophet was appointed to the 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 Jews who
enlisted in Khusrau’s army rose to 26,000.
Hercules could not stop this storm. The very first news that he
received from the East after ascending the throne was that of
the Persian's occupation of Antioch. After this, Damascus fell
in 613 CE. Then in 614 , the Persians occupying Jerusalem,
played havoc with the Christian world. Ninety thousand
Christians were massacred and the Holy Sepulchre was desecrated.
The Original Cross on which, according to Christian beliefs,
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 Hercules from Jerusalem. He wrote: "From Khusrau, the
greatest of all gods, the master of the whole world : To
Hercules, 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 Persian armies overran
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 Qureysh, and the conflict had
reached such a stage that in 615 CE, a substantial number of the
Muslims had to leave their homes and take refuge with the
Christian kingdom of Habasha, which was an ally of the Byzantine
Empire. In those days the Sassăni victories against Byzantine
were the talk of the town, and the pagans of Makkah were
delighted and were taunting the Muslims to the effect: “Look the
fire worshippers of Persia are winning victories and the
Christian believers in Revelation and Prophethood are being
routed everywhere. Likewise, we, the idol worshippers of Arabia,
will exterminate you and your religion.”
These were the conditions when this Sürah of the Qur'an 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 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 contrary, the Romans
were losing more and more ground every next day. By 619 CE the
whole of Egypt had passed into Sassăni 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 CE they
captured Chalcedony (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, Tünis). In short, as the British
historian Gibbon says, even seven to eight years after this
prediction of the Qur'an, the conditions were such that no one
could even imagine that the Byzantine Empire would ever gain an
upper hand over Persia, not to speak of gaining domination. No
one could hope that the Empire, under the circumstances, would
even survive.
When these verses of the Qur'an were sent down, the disbelievers
of Makkah made great fun of them, and Ubayy bin Khalaf bet
Sayyidună Abu Bakr ten camels that the Romans would not be
victorious within three years. When the Prophet came to know of
the bet, he said, “The Qur'an has used the words bid-i-sinďn,
and the word bid in Arabic applies to a number up to ten.
Therefore, make the bet for ten years and increase the number of
camels to a hundred.” So, Sayyidună Abu Bakr spoke to Ubayy
again and bet a hundred camels for ten years.
In 622 CE, when the Prophet migrated to Madinah, the Emperor
Hercules set off quietly for Trabzon from Constantinople via the
Black Sea and started preparations to attack Persia 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. Hercules started his counter
attack in 623 CE from Armenia. Next year, in 624 CE, he entered
Azerbaijăn and destroyed Clorumia, the birthplace of Zoroaster,
and ravaged the principal fire temple of Persia. 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 mushrikďn. Thus, both the predictions made in Sürah Rum were
fulfilled simultaneously within the stipulated period of ten
years.
The Byzantine forces continued to press the Persians hard and in
the decisive battle at Nineveh, (627 CE) they dealt them the
hardest blow. They captured the royal residence of Dast-Gerd,
and then pressing forward, reached right opposite to Ctesiphon,
which was the capital of Persia in those days. In 628 CE, 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 prison. This was the year when the peace treaty
of Hudeybiyah was concluded, which the Qur'an has termed as “the
supreme victory,” and in this very year Khusrau’s son, Qubăd II,
gave up all the occupied Roman territories, restored the True
Cross and made peace with Byzantine. In 628 CE, the Emperor
himself went to Jerusalem to instal the “Cross” in its place,
and in the same year the Prophet entered Makkah for the first
time after the Hijrah to perform the Umra-tul-Q'adah.
After this, no one could have any doubt about the truth of the
prophecy of the Qur'an, 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 Sayyidună Abu Bakr
Siddďq. He took them before the 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;
but now it had been 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.” |
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