Surah Ar-Room – Yousef Bin Noah Ahmad

Ar-Room (The Romans, that is, the Byzantines) is the 30th surah of the Quran. A Meccan surah of 60 verses, it lies in the twenty-first juz and is counted 84th in the traditional order of revelation, just after Al-Inshiqaq. It opens with a prophecy of a Byzantine victory over Persia, then sets out the signs of God in creation, in human nature and in the rise and fall of nations.

The prophecy

After the letters Alif-Lam-Mim, the surah announces that the Romans, defeated "in the nearest land", will prevail "within a few years" (30:2–4). The Persians had taken Jerusalem from the Byzantines in 614. According to a narration of Ibn Abbas in al-Tirmidhi, graded sahih, the Meccan polytheists favoured the Persians and the Muslims the Byzantines, a People of the Book, and Abu Bakr made a wager with Quraysh on the outcome. Heraclius counter-attacked from 622 and crushed the Persians in 627; another narration in al-Tirmidhi, graded hasan, places news of a Byzantine victory on the day of Badr (624).

Themes

• "Among His signs" (30:20–27): humans created from dust; spouses in whom one finds rest, with "affection and mercy" between them (30:21); the diversity of languages and colours (30:22); sleep, lightning and rain.
• The natural disposition: turning to the religion as a pure monotheist, following "the fitra of God upon which He created people" (30:30), without splitting into sects (30:32).
• Corruption and mercy: "Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of what people's hands have earned" (30:41), while the rain that revives dead earth points to the resurrection (30:50). Man goes from weakness to strength, then back to weakness and grey hair (30:54).

The surah closes with a call to patience: "The promise of God is true" (30:60). It is one of four consecutive surahs opening with Alif-Lam-Mim, from Al-Ankaboot to As-Sajda.