Ar-Rum ( ar, الروم, translit=’ar-rūm, lit=The Romans) is the 30th chapter ( sūrah) of the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing.: ...

, consisting of 60 verses ( āyāt). The term '' Rūm'' originated in the word ''Roman'', and during the time of the

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or ''Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the main ...

prophet

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...

, it referred to the

Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

; the title is also sometimes translated as "The

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, Albania, Greeks in Italy, ...

" or "The Byzantines". The surah provides information on how the cataclysmic Byzantine–Sassanid War of 602–628 looked to the

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow val ...

—interested onlookers who were still unaware that, within a single generation, they would enter the realm of imperialism and defeat both the Byzantines and the Sassanids.

Summary

The chapter begins by noting the recent defeat of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

to the

Sassanid Empire The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Name ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, near the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank ...

. This defeat posed a significant theological and sociological problem for the early Muslim community because the Byzantines were

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

(considered to be " People of the Book" from the Islamic viewpoint) while the Sassanids who defeated them were Zoroastrians. Ar-Rum is in part a response to the non-Muslim Arab Meccans, who took the Sassanid victory as a sign that the traditional polytheistic practices would win out over the

monotheism Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxf ...

of the

Abrahamic religions The Abrahamic religions are a group of religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organiza ...

. In the third and fourth verses, the Muslim community is promised that the Byzantines will reverse their defeat into a victory and retake Jerusalem "in a few years' time". Muslims believe this prophecy was fulfilled with Heraclius' campaign of 622, a Byzantine military counter-offensive that resulted in a crushing defeat for the Sassanids in

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The r ...

, and cite it as an example of the miraculous nature of the

Ayat (verses)

*1-5 Prophecy concerning the ultimate triumph of the Greeks over the Persians *6-7

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

's power manifest in nature *8-9 The Quraysh heed not the warnings of God *10-12 The despair of the infidels in the resurrection *13-15 The righteous and the wicked shall be separated on the

Day of Judgement The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

*16-17 God to be worshipped at stated periods *18 The changes in nature a proof of the resurrection *19-26 Various signs of God's omnipotence *27-28 The

idolaters Idolatry is the worship of a cult image or "idol" as though it were God. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, the Baháʼí Faith, and Islam) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the Go ...

convinced of folly by reference to their own customs *29-31

exhorted to follow the orthodox faith and to avoid idolatry *32-35 The ingratitude of idolaters, who call on God in adversity but forget him in prosperity *36-38

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abra ...

exhorted to charity *39 The idols unable to create and preserve life *40-41 God's judgements follow man's iniquity *42 Exhortation to repentance before the judgment *42-44 The separation of the wicked and the just on Judgement Day; rewards and punishments *45 God's goodness in his providence a sign to men *46 Those who rejected the former prophets were punished *47-49 God's mercy manifest in his works *50 A blasting wind sufficient to harden the hearts of the unbelievers *51-52 Muhammad unable to make the dead to hear or the blind to see *53 God the Creator *54-57 Believers and unbelievers on the resurrection day *58 The parables of the Quran rejected *59 Unbelievers are given over to blindness *60 Muhammad encouraged to steadfastness in the true religion

Chronology

Regarding the timing and contextual background of the revelation (''

asbāb al-nuzūl Occasions or circumstances of revelation ( ''al-nuzūl'', ) names the historical context in which Quranic verses were revealed from the perspective of traditional Islam. Though of some use in reconstructing the Qur'an's historicity, ''asbāb'' is ...

''), it is an earlier "

Meccan surah The Meccan surat are, according to the timing and contextual background of supposed revelation ('' asbāb al-nuzūl''), the chronologically earlier chapters ('' suwar'', singular '' sūrah'') of the Qur'an. The traditional chronological order attr ...

", which means it is believed to have been revealed in

, instead of later in

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...

. Parts of Q30:38-50 are preserved in the

Ṣan‘ā’1 lower text The Sanaa palimpsest (also Ṣanʽā’ 1 or DAM 01-27.1) or Sanaa Quran is one of the oldest Quranic manuscripts in existence. Part of a sizable cache of Quranic and non-Quranic fragments discovered in Yemen during a 1972 restoration of the ...

. According to Theodor Nöldeke, the

surah A ''surah'' (; ar, سورة, sūrah, , ), is the equivalent of "chapter" in the Qur'an. There are 114 ''surahs'' in the Quran, each divided into '' ayats'' (verses). The chapters or ''surahs'' are of unequal length; the shortest surah ('' Al-K ...

of ar-Rum was the second-to-last Meccan surah and the 84th surah chronologically; however, he argues its 17th ayah was revealed during the Medinan period. While the first ayah of the surah refers to the defeat of the

at the hands of the

near Damascus in the spring of 614, Nöldeke notes that this does not necessarily indicate 614 was the year in which the surah was revealed. According to

al-Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...

, it refers to the

Battle of Adhri'at A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

in 614, but this battle is ignored in other sources.

Literary units

In his

tafsir Tafsir ( ar, تفسير, tafsīr ) refers to exegesis, usually of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' ( ar, مُفسّر; plural: ar, مفسّرون, mufassirūn). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, in ...

, entitled "In the Shade of the Qur'an",

Sayyid Qutb Sayyid 'Ibrāhīm Ḥusayn Quṭb ( or ; , ; ar, سيد قطب إبراهيم حسين ''Sayyid Quṭb''; 9 October 1906 – 29 August 1966), known popularly as Sayyid Qutb ( ar, سيد قطب), was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamic ...

divides the surah into two halves, verses 1–32 and verses 33–60.Qutb, Sayyid. In the shade of the Quran. Vol. 13. Alexandria, Va.: Al Saadawi Publications, 1997. Each section begins with an assertion of

's grace and mercy and ends with encouragement for

and his community. ;First Section: "Signs to Reflect Upon" * "The Natural Bond of Faith" Notes the Byzantine defeat and prophesies a coming victory promised by God * "To Whom Power Belongs" Declares the truth of the universe * "Invitation to Reflect" Reminds the believers of the fates of other disobedient communities * "Two Divergent Wars" Describes the

Last Judgment The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

* "Scene of God's Glory", "The Cycle of Life and Death", and "Man and the Universe" Offers praise for God and all His powers and signs * "Analogy Drawn from Human Life" Uses a metaphor about slavery to condemn the sin of shirk * "Concluding Directive to Prophet" Urges the listeners to turn to the truth and resist dividing into sects ;Second Section: "Bringing Life out of the Dead" * "Vacillating Conditions" Reassures the Muslim community of God's mercy and grace for true believers and offers suggestions for behavior like giving to the needy or avoiding usury * "Corruption and Pollution" Reminds people of the promise of resurrection at the Last Judgment and the fates of polytheist communities * "Aspects of God's Grace" Emphasizes resurrection as one of signs of God's mercy and grace when believers lose hope * "The Different Stages of Man's Life" Describes the weakness and folly of man and the fate of evildoers at the Last Judgment * "No Change of Position" Decries the nonbelievers who refuse to listen to Muhammad but asserts that God leads astray who he wills * Urges Muhammad and his community to persevere

Major themes

The main theme of this surah is the contrast between monotheism and polytheism. In addition to making logical arguments against ascribing partners to God, several verses outline the differing fate for idolaters and believers. The unity of God is also emphasized with descriptions of the glory of God through illustrations of His wondrous signs and His miraculous creation. This means that the main lessons of this surah is not to make partners to Allah, and to always have the fate of a believer.

Sample verse

Surah 30 includes a verse comparing the association of partners with God, which is the sin of shirk, to the relationship between a master and his slaves.

References

External links

Q30:2
50+ translations, islamawakened.com *
Quran 30
Clear Quran translation {{Authority control Rum Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628