'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Tafsir of Surah Ar-Rum

This surah is Meccan, and there is no disagreement that I have preserved in that.

His saying, exalted is He:

﴿Alif Lam Meem﴾ ﴿The Romans have been defeated﴾ ﴿in the nearest land, and they, after their defeat, will be victorious﴾ ﴿in a few years. To Allah belongs the command before and after. And on that day, the believers will rejoice﴾ ﴿in the victory of Allah. He gives victory to whom He wills, and He is the Exalted in Might, the Most Merciful﴾ ﴿This is the promise of Allah. Allah does not fail in His promise, but most of the people do not know﴾

The discussion regarding the letters at the beginning of the surahs has been previously mentioned with sufficient detail. The majority read: 'غُلِبَتْ' with a dammah on the ghain. They said: The meaning of the verse is that it was reported in Makkah that the king Khosrow defeated the army of the king of the Romans. Mujahid said: In Al-Jazirah, which is a location between Iraq and Ash-Sham. Ikrimah said: In Adhri'at, which is between the lands of the Arabs and Ash-Sham. Muqatil said: In Palestine and Jordan. When this occurred, the disbelievers were pleased, so Allah, blessed and exalted is He, gave glad tidings to His servants that the Romans would be victorious in a few years, and the state would be theirs in war.

Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri, Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, Muawiyah ibn Qurrat, and Abdullah ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, read: 'غَلَبَتْ' with a fathah on the ghain and the lam. The interpretation of this is that what occurred on the day of Badr was that the Romans had indeed been victorious, which pleased the disbelievers of Quraysh, and the Muslims were delighted. So Allah, blessed and exalted is He, gave glad tidings to His servants that they would also be victorious in a few years. Abu Hatim mentioned this interpretation. The first narration and the reading with a dammah on the ghain is more correct.

The people unanimously agree on ﴿ 'سَيَغْلِبُونَ'﴾ that it is with a fathah on the ya, meaning the Romans. It was narrated from Ibn Amr, may Allah be pleased with him, that he also read: 'سَيُغْلَبُونَ' with a dammah on the ya, and in this reading, there is a change in the meaning that the narrations have agreed upon.

'أدْنى الأرْضِ' means: the nearest land. If the incident was in Adhri'at, it is from the nearest land in relation to Makkah, which is what Imru' al-Qais mentioned in his saying:

I illuminated it from Adhri'at and its people ∗∗∗ in Yathrib, the nearest of its dwellings is a high view

And if the incident was in Al-Jazirah, it is nearer in relation to the land of Khosrow. And if it was in Jordan, it is nearer to the land of the Romans. Abu Hatim said, and it was read 'أدانِيِّ الأرْضِ'. The majority of the people read: ﴿ 'غَلَبِهِمْ'﴾ with a fathah on the lam, as it is said: 'I milk for you a milk that is half of it.' And Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, read it with a sukoon, which is a source added to the object.

It has been narrated in the stories of this verse from Ibn Abbas - may Allah be pleased with both of them - and others that when the disbelievers rejoiced in Mecca at the defeat of the Romans, Allah, the Exalted, informed His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and the believers that the Romans would be victorious in a few years, meaning: from three to nine, according to the well-known saying of the linguists, as if it is the cutting of ten, meaning: dividing it. Abu Ubaidah said: from three to five, and his saying is rejected. When he gave them this good news, Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, went to the mosque and said to them: "Are you pleased that the Romans were defeated? For our Prophet informed us from Allah, the Exalted, that they will be victorious in a few years." Then Ubayy ibn Khalaf and Umayyah, his brother - and it was said: Abu Sufyan ibn Harb - said: "Come, O Abu Fasil - they were hinting at him with his nickname of Al-Bakr - let us wager - meaning let us bet - on that." Abu Bakr wagered with them - Qatadah said: and that was before gambling was prohibited - and he made the wager five camels, and the term was three years. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, informed of that and said to him: "Indeed, a few years means up to nine, but go back and increase the wager and extend the term." So Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, did so, and they made the camels one hundred and the term nine years. The Romans were victorious during the term." It was narrated from Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri that the defeat of the Romans by the horse was on the day of Badr, and it was narrated that it was on the day of Hudaybiyyah, and that the news of that reached on the day of the Pledge of Ridwan. A similar narration has been reported from Qatadah, and in both days there was victory from Allah, the Exalted, for the believers.

People mentioned that the reason for the Muslims' joy at the defeat of the Romans and their hope that they would prevail, while the polytheists from Quraysh were against that, is that the Romans are people of scripture like the Muslims, while the Persians are idol worshippers or similar to the worshippers of fire like the disbelievers of Quraysh and the Arabs.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

It seems that this can be explained by what is necessitated by human nature, which loves for the smaller enemy to prevail: because it is an easier support, and whenever the larger one prevails, fear of him increases. So contemplate this meaning along with what the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, hoped for from the emergence of his religion and the law of Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, which he was sent with, and its victory over the nations, and the desire of the disbelievers of Mecca for Allah to send against him a king who would eradicate him and relieve them of him.

And "years" is pluralized like the plural of one who has intellect as a compensation for the deficiency that is in one of them; because the root of the word (year) is sanhah, or sanwah, and the 's' was broken in it as an indication that its plural is outside its usual measure and pattern.

His saying, exalted is He: "To Allah belongs the command before and after," informs of His uniqueness in power. What exists in the world of dominance and otherwise is only from Him, by His will and power. He said: "To Allah belongs the command," meaning the execution of decrees, "before and after," meaning before this dominance and after it. "Before" and "after" are two adverbials built on the dammah because they are defined by the omission of what was added to them and have become inclusive of what was omitted. Thus, they oppose the inflection of nouns and resemble the particles in their inclusion, so they were built. They were specifically built on the dammah due to their similarity to the singular vocative, in that if they are made indefinite or added to, their construction is removed. Likewise, they were both built as the vocative is built on the dammah. It has also been said regarding this that the fatha could not be used in them because of their condition in revealing what was added to them. The kasra could not be used because of their condition when added to the speaker. The sukoon could not be used because what precedes either of them is a sukoon, so nothing remains except the dammah, and thus they were built upon it. Among the Arabs are those who say: "before and after" with the genitive and the tanween. Al-Farra' said: "It is permissible to leave the tanween so it remains as it is in the addition even if the added is omitted."

And His saying, exalted is He: "And on that Day," can be understood as an addition to "before and after," as if He has limited the three times: the past, the future, and the present. Then He began informing of the joy of the believers in victory. It can also be understood that the statement was completed in His saying: "after," then He initiated an additional statement in which He informed that on the day the Romans defeated the Persians, the believers will rejoice in the victory of Allah. On this possibility, the interpreters have proceeded. The victory that the believers rejoice in can be understood as the victory of the Romans over the Persians, which is the support of Islam by the years we have mentioned. It can also be understood as a victory specific to the Muslims over their enemy. This is also an unseen matter that He informed of and brought into existence, either on the Day of Badr or with the Pledge of Ridwan. It can also refer to the joy of the Muslims in the victory of Allah, exalted is He, for them in that their Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, spoke the truth in that the Romans would defeat the Persians, for this is a great type of victory.

And His saying, exalted is He: "The promise of Allah" is in the accusative as a confirmed source. His saying: "But most people do not know," refers to the disbelievers from Quraysh and the Arabs, meaning they do not know that matters are from Allah, exalted and blessed is He, and that His promise does not fail, and that what His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, brings is true.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: What we have mentioned is the main point of what has been said. Al-Tabari and others have narrated reports that are rejected by scrutiny. The first of these is that some said: The verse "The promise of Allah will not be broken by Allah" was revealed after the victory of the Romans over the Persians and the news of that reached. This implies that the verse is Medinan, while the surah is Meccan by consensus, and similar statements.