Verses 1–19
This sūrah begins with a promise from God that the Romans will defeat the Persians a few years after their rout at the latter’s hands during the days when this sūrah was revealed. From here, it shifts to discuss the greatest promise of all, which is the promise of a day on which everyone will return to God. It provides proof of the Resurrection, accompanying this with those signs of God’s lordship and Divine Attributes specific to this event. Finally, God concludes the sūrah by promising divine assistance to His Prophet, emphasizing this with a powerful statement: So be patient! Allah’s promise is indeed true. And do not let yourself be upset by those who have no conviction (). By which point something similar to this has already been said: …and it was a must for Us to help the faithful ().
The ultimate goal of this sūrah, then, is to convey God’s certain promise that He will grant His religion victory. He precedes this with a promise to grant victory to the Romans over the Persians several years after the time of this sūrah’s revelation to show that just as He fulfils this promise, so too will He fulfil that one. Equally, He uses it to demonstrate alongside rational arguments that He will fulfil His promise regarding the Day of Reckoning in which there is no doubt.
Commentary
الم ١ غُلِبَتِ الرُّومُ ٢ فِي أَدْنَى الْأَرْضِ وَهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ غَلَبِهِمْ سَيَغْلِبُونَ٣ فِي بِضْعِ سِنِينَ ۗ لِلَّهِ الْأَمْرُ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَمِنْ بَعْدُ ۚ وَيَوْمَئِذٍ يَفْرَحُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ٤َ
(30:1–4) Alif, Lām, Mīm. The Romans have been vanquished in a nearby territory, but following their defeat they will be victors in a few years. All command belongs to Allah, before and after, and on that day the faithful will rejoice.
The Romans were a race of people who lived on the coast of the Mediterranean in the West and possessed a vast empire that extended into the Levant. They faced intermittent warfare against the Persians in parts of the Levant that were close to Hejaz. In one such conflict the Persians were victorious and the Romans withdrew. It appears as though territory here refers to the Hejaz.
…but following their defeat (min baʿd ghalabihim), they will be victors in a few years: The first and third plural pronoun “they” refers to the Romans. As for the second, some have suggested it refers to the Persians, in which case the meaning would be “But the Romans, following the Persian’s victory, will be victors.” However, it is possible that the verbal noun ghalab could be used to signify the object (mafʿūl), in which case the second pronoun “they” would also refers to the Romans [which is the reading reflected in the above translation]. This would render the meaning: “The Romans, following their defeat, will be victors.” A “few” (bidʿ) of a number means between three and nine.
…All command belongs to Allah, before and after and on that day the faithful will rejoice: In the Arabic, both “before” (qabl) and “after” (baʿd) take a ḍamma as their final vowel because there is an implicit possessive construct, namely: “All command belongs to God, both before the Romans were defeated and afterwards. He commands whatever He wills, grants victory to whomever He wills and casts down whomever He wills.”
Some have said that the meaning is: “All command belongs to God, both before they are victors, which is when they were defeated, and after they are defeated, which is when they become victors.” In other words, at both times, all command is God’s. The first reading is preferable, even if it has not always been preferred by the majority of commentators.
… and on that day the faithful will rejoice: On that day is semantically connected to rejoice, as is He helps… The meaning is: “On the day when the Romans are victorious, the faithful will rejoice at God’s helping the Romans.”
بِنَصْرِ اللَّهِ ۚ يَنْصُرُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۖ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ ٥
(30:5) At Allah’s help. He helps whomever He wishes, and He is the All-mighty, the All-merciful.
God then starts afresh, saying, He helps whomever He wishes… in line with what He said in the previous verse: All command belongs to Allah, before and after.
…and He is the All-mighty, the All-merciful: He is the All-mighty and He makes mighty whomever He wishes through His help (naṣr); He is the All-merciful and He singles out whomever He wishes for His mercy.
There are other weaker interpretations of this verse. For example that …on that day is connected to …before [that is, “before, after and on that day”] in order to encompass all three tenses—past, future and present, as if to say: “All command belongs to God, before, after and on that day.” Then a new sentence begins: “The faithful will rejoice at God’s help.” The problem with this reading is that it breaks up the verse by separating the latter part from the first one.
Another interpretation is that at Allah’s help is connected to the faithful but not to rejoice, meaning by extension that the victory of the Romans is only due to God’s help. However, the problem with this is that it implies that the faithful should rejoice both on the day that the Persians were victorious and the day when the Romans were victorious, as all victories come only from God, as per the verse: and victory comes only from Allah, the All-mighty, the All-wise (). Therefore, in such a reading, saying that the faithful will rejoice at God’s help on the day the Romans are victorious becomes purely arbitrary!
Still another interpretation is that Allah’s help refers to His help of the faithful against the idolaters at the Battle of Badr rather than His helping the Romans against the Persians, even though the two victories happened at the same time. It is as if to say: “The Romans will be victors in a few years and on the day they triumph the faithful will triumph over the idolaters and rejoice at God’s help.” However, this reading of the verse does not accord with the phrase He helps whomever He wishes.
Another interpretation is that God’s help refers to His helping the faithful through bringing about the fulfilment of His prophecy that the Romans would be victorious.
Some say God’s help means giving some disbelievers ascendancy over others, spreading dissent amongst them and breaking their power.
These latter two readings and others like them are not worthy of consideration.
وَعْدَ اللَّهِ ۖ لَا يُخْلِفُ اللَّهُ وَعْدَهُ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ٦
(30:6) Allah’s promise. Allah does not break His promise, but most people do not know.
Allah’s promise is an absolute object for an implicit verb, meaning: “God has promised a promise.” To break a promise means not to fulfil it.
When God says Allah’s promise, this is an affirmation and emphasis of the promise He has given above in the verses they will be victors () and the faithful will rejoice (). Equally, Allah does not break His promise is a further affirmation and emphasis of the phrase Allah’s promise.
Allah does not break His promise (lā yukhlifu allāh waʿdah) has the same meaning as the verse Indeed Allah does not break His promise (—inna allāh lā yukhlifu al-mīʿād). Even though it is not always morally wrong to break a promise—it could even be the right thing to do in an emergency—God does not face emergencies, therefore it is never right for Him to break a promise. Moreover, breaking a promise always implies deficiency and God has no deficiencies. Finally, even putting these aside, when God says that He does not break His promises and He is the most truthful of speakers—as per the verse I speak the truth ()—it is impossible that He will break His promise.
But most people do not know means that they are ignorant of God’s nature and do not trust His promises because they think He will behave as they do; sometimes speaking truly and others falsely, sometimes keeping promises and others breaking them.
يَعْلَمُونَ ظَاهِرًا مِنَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ عَنِ الْآخِرَةِ هُمْ غَافِلُونَ ٧
(30:7) They know just an outward aspect of the life of the world, but they are oblivious of the Hereafter.
According to Zamaksharī writing in al-Kashshāf, the sentence beginning They know… is a permutation of the sentence do not know in the previous verse; the reason for this is to show the audience that there is no difference between a lack of knowledge, which is ignorance, and having knowledge that does not exceed the bounds of this world.
It is said: This sentence is an exceptional clause (istithnāʾ) to illustrate the reason for their not knowing that God’s promise is true, that all command belongs to God before and after and that He will help the faithful against the faithless.
The latter of the two is closer to the apparent meaning of the text.
An outward aspect is left indefinite (nakira) to illustrate its meagerness. An outward aspect (ẓāhir, from ẓuhūr) of the life of this world is the opposite of the inward aspect (bāṭin) and it is whatever vanities they perceive through their outer senses. This leads them to covet and pursue such vanities in a bid to acquire them, spending their whole life in this manner, forgetting that beyond this world lies another life and the [types of] knowledge connected with this life. Thus they remain unaware of what is genuinely best for them and what will benefit them in the truest sense of the word.
It is said: Ẓuhūr (appearances, outwardness) in this verse means zawāl (disappearance, fading, vanishing), as in the verses of poetry:
وعيرها الواشون أني أحبها وتلك شكاة ظاهر عنك عارها
Because of my love for her, she’s blamed in their view; But the stains of this blame fall off from you (ẓāhir ʿanka).
In which case the verse means: “What they know is only something fleeting and impermanent.” However, this is based on a very uncommon usage of the word ẓāhir.
أَوَلَمْ يَتَفَكَّرُوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ ۗ مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ وَأَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى ۗ وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنَ النَّاسِ بِلِقَاءِ رَبِّهِمْ لَكَافِرُونَ ٨
(30:8) Have they not reflected in their own souls? Allah did not create the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them except in truth and for a specified term. Indeed many of the people disbelieve in the encounter with their Lord.
When God says He created the heavens, the earth and whatever is between them—which refers to the entire visible world—in truth (bi al-ḥaqq), He means that He did not create them idly or without any purpose beyond the fact of their existing then ceasing to exist, then existing, then ceasing to exist. Rather, God says He created them with a purpose which will be realized through their existence.
Now, the world and all of its constituent parts do not exist eternally or without end, such that each part could be the purpose of the part that came before it, or each new part could have been created for a previous one. Instead, for the world and all of its components, even if they are transitory, there is a goal which God intended to bring about through their creation that will only become apparent once the world has passed away. That is why God limits His expression Allah did not create the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them with the phrase and for a specified term after limiting them with except in truth.
The question Have they not reflected in their own souls? expresses amazement. In their own souls is a figure of speech meaning “with a clear and focused mind.” It is as though their occupation with this world, all their efforts to live in it and the confusion in their minds causes them to lose their own sense of self. Thus, when they are paying attention it is as though they are present in themselves and, as a result, their thinking is focused rather than scattered and confused, and this kind of thinking will guide them to the truth and lead them to reality.
It is said: reflected in their own souls means to reflect upon the creation of their own souls and notice that each of them is originated (muḥdath), and to realize that whatever is originated needs an originator (muḥdith). Then, this originator must be eternal, all-living, all-powerful, all-knowing and all-wise and therefore does not create things idly but rather creates them for some purpose He intends. This purpose cannot be for His own sake because He is absolutely without need. Therefore the purpose must be for the sake of His creation; this purpose is divine reward (thawāb) and reward can only be attained through righteous deeds. Therefore there must be a religion promulgated to distinguish righteous deeds from wicked ones and, furthermore, there must be a place in which people are tested (this world) and another place where they are rewarded (the Hereafter).
However, the problem with such an interpretation is that while the sentence have they not reflected in their own souls? could itself be used for such a meaning, this would mean that the sentence Allah did not create the heavens… cannot follow it because this would mean there was no relationship between the beginning of the verse and its end.
Allah did not create the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them except in truth and for a specified term: This is the kind of reflection they must engage in within their own souls; based on the above, this line of thinking goes that God did not create this world, in all or part, except that it was accompanied by truth, namely that there was some real purpose behind its existence. It was not created idly and without purpose, nor until a specific time so that nothing would remain of it for all eternity. Yes, this world will fade away. But God created this world and all of its parts with a purpose in mind, and it is this purpose that will endure long after it has passed into nothingness. This purpose is the Hereafter, which will only become manifest after this world has come to an end.
Indeed many of the people disbelieve in the encounter with their Lord: This verse ends, as it began, with an expression of amazement. To encounter God means to return to Him at the Resurrection. This is called an “encounter” (liqāʾ) is to emphasize how amazing it is that they disbelieve in this—how can they begin with Him and not return to Him? That is why this sentence begins with indeed for emphasis, to show that disbelief in the Resurrection is something that is itself unbelievable!
أَوَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَيَنْظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ ۚ كَانُوا أَشَدَّ مِنْهُمْ قُوَّةً وَأَثَارُوا الْأَرْضَ وَعَمَرُوهَا أَكْثَرَ مِمَّا عَمَرُوهَا وَجَاءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ ۖ فَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيَظْلِمَهُمْ وَلَٰكِنْ كَانُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ٩
(30:9) Have they not travelled in the land so that they may observe how was the fate of those who were before them? They were more powerful than them, and they ploughed the earth and developed it more than they have developed it. Their messengers brought them manifest proofs. So it was not Allah who wronged them, but it was they who used to wrong themselves.
Having said that, many people disbelieve in the Resurrection, which is something that defeats the very purpose of believing in the true religion, God reminds them of the condition of previous nations and the terrible punishments that befell them. This is done in the hope that the listeners will take a lesson from this and desist from their disbelief.
To “plough the earth” means to turn it over for the purposes of agriculture, construction or the like thereof.
…but it was they who used to wrong themselves means they wronged themselves by disbelieving and sinning.
ثُمَّ كَانَ عَاقِبَةَ الَّذِينَ أَسَاءُوا السُّوأَىٰ أَنْ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَكَانُوا بِهَا يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ١٠
(30:10) Then the fate of those who committed misdeeds was misfortune. That they denied the signs of Allah and they used to deride them.
This verse explains what became of those wrongdoers, which is why it begins with “then” (thumma). Misfortune (sawʾā) means a deficiency that harms the one it befalls. In this case, it refers to divine punishment. That they denied the signs of Allah means “Because they denied the signs of Allah” (the lām of causation is implicit in the Arabic).
As a whole, the verse means: “Then the fate of those who did evil was the worst punishment. They had no fate besides this, for they had denied God’s signs and denied them.”
It is said that the verse could also be rendered “Then the fate of those who committed misdeeds was that they denied the signs of God and they used to deride them.” This would mean that their misdeeds had driven them to disbelief by denying God’s signs and deriding them.
However, although this meaning is in itself plausible, the first meaning is more apposite to the context in which it appears. This is because the context here is one of warning them and teaching them a moral lesson and the first meaning does this by explaining that the outcome of their misdeeds will be divine punishment, while the second says that their various misdeeds will lead them to the even worse sins of denying God’s signs and deriding them. Therefore, the first is more effective.
اللَّهُ يَبْدَأُ الْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُ ثُمَّ إِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ ١١
(30:11) Allah originates the creation, then He will bring it back, then you will be brought back to Him.
Having outlined the arguments at length above and described how many people deny His signs, God draws a very succinct conclusion, namely that the beginning and the end are in His hand and that everything will be brought back to Him. Here, creation (khalq) means “creatures” (makhlūqūn), and that is why He uses the plural pronoun in the coda.
وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ يُبْلِسُ الْمُجْرِمُونَ ١٢
(30:12) And when the Hour sets in, the guilty will despair.
Here, God describes the condition of the guilty sinners when the Hour sets in. This is, of course, the hour of their return to Him to be held to account and recompensed. The word despair (yublis) used in this verse means to despair of God’s mercy and its meaning encompasses every kind of misery.
وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُمْ مِنْ شُرَكَائِهِمْ شُفَعَاءُ وَكَانُوا بِشُرَكَائِهِمْ كَافِرِينَ ١٣
(30:13) None of those whom they ascribed as partners will intercede for them, and they were disbelievers through their partners.
This means that as well as despairing of God’s mercy for their own deeds, they will also lose all hope in their gods whom they had taken as partners to God and worshiped them in order to win their intercession with Him. They used to say in this world: “These gods are our intercessors with God!” And they were disbelievers, veiled from God by their worship of these partners.
وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ يَوْمَئِذٍ يَتَفَرَّقُونَ ١٤ فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ فَهُمْ فِي رَوْضَةٍ يُحْبَرُونَ ١٥ وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَكَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا وَلِقَاءِ الْآخِرَةِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ فِي الْعَذَابِ مُحْضَرُونَ ١٦
(30:14–16) The day the Hour sets in, they will be divided on that day: As for those who have faith and do righteous deeds, they shall be in a garden (rawḍa), rejoicing (yuḥbarūn). But as for those who were faithless and denied Our signs and the encounter of the Hereafter, they will be brought to the punishment.
In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, we read:
Rawḍa means a garden of the utmost beauty and pleasantness.
In the Mufradāt, al-Rāghib says:
Ḥibr means an embellishment… in a garden rejoicing means that they will rejoice in the garden until the embellishments of their comfort become apparent to them.
When God says that the creation will be divided on that day, He means that the faithful who did righteous deeds will be separated from the guilty sinners who will be admitted to hell while they are admitted to heaven. This is clearly shown by the following verses.
It is the necessity of this division and separation in existence that God takes as a proof of the Resurrection in the verse: Do those who have perpetrated misdeeds suppose that We shall treat them as those who have faith and do righteous deeds, their life and death being equal? Evil is the judgement that they make! ()
فَسُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ حِينَ تُمْسُونَ وَحِينَ تُصْبِحُونَ ١٧ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَعَشِيًّا وَحِينَ تُظْهِرُونَ ١٨
(30:17–18) So glory to Allah when you enter evening and when you rise at dawn—to Him belongs all praise in the heavens and the earth—and at nightfall and when you enter noontime.
Above, God has said that He originated the creation and that He will return it and bring the creation back to Him. After this, He described how He will separate them into two groups: the inhabitants of paradise who will receive its blessings, and the inmates of hell who will endure its punishment. The inhabitants of paradise are the faithful who did righteous deeds, while the inmates of hell are the faithless who denied God’s signs. They were those who, in this world, had power and wealth but forgot the Hereafter, denied God’s signs and mocked them. As a result, their fate was the worst punishment—that of being utterly annihilated in this world—as a recompense for them wronging themselves, for God did not wrong them, rather it was they who wronged their own selves.
From all of this, we conclude that the realm of creation follows a divine plan of the utmost sublimity and represents the best of all possible worlds. However, the human being, sadly, throughout history has been sinful in his behavior and errant in holding beliefs that are unworthy of his Lord—he has set up partners to Him, denied that he will encounter Him, not to mention his other misdeeds.
This discussion concludes by saying to glorify God as you are revived, moment after moment, and to praise Him for His artifice and governance in the heavens and the earth—representing the entirety of the visible world—for He is completely divested off these false beliefs and immoral deeds, and praiseworthy for all that He has created and directed in the heavens and the earth.
From this, the following becomes apparent:
First, that these two verses are God instructing the audience to praise and glorify Him rather than quoting the words of anyone else. With this in mind, the meaning is really: Say: glory to God… and say: to God belongs all praise… God frequently invokes His own praise and glory, as in the verse: Glory to your Lord, the Lord of might… () and Blessed be Him who sent down the Criterion to His servant… ().
Second, that He means glorification and praise in general—not just the daily obligatory prayers. This is the interpretation of the majority of those who say that the implicit meaning of the verse is Say: glory to God…
Third, that the sentence to Him belongs all praise in the heavens and the earth is an interjection (muʿtariḍa) that occurs mid-sentence. This means that the words and at nightfall and when you enter noontime are actually attached to the phrase …when you enter evening and when you rise at dawn rather than in the heavens and the earth. Whereas, if they were attached to the latter, this would mean that the evening and dawn are reserved for glorifying Him while the heavens, the earth, noontime and nightfall would be reserved for praising Him. Of course, on the reading we have propounded, all times are for glorification and all places are for praise.
The tone of the verse suggests that the creation and command found throughout the heavens and the earth belong only to God, and their beauty should give people cause to praise and magnify Him. Meanwhile, the human being has—with the passage of the ages and the changing of times—associated partners with God and disobeyed Him in a manner that does not befit His divinity.
However, there is another way of looking at the way in which praise and glorification have been used; namely that despite the passage of time and the changes it has wrought on some of the beings that dwell in the heavens and the earth, these nevertheless praise and magnify God through the mere fact of their existence. Then, everything in the heavens and the earth, through its existential poverty, its lowliness and its deficiency in comparison to His utter perfection, also glorifies Him, as in the verse: There is not a thing but celebrates His praise (). Yet this point of view is not reflected in the two verses we are discussing here.
Commentators have given various different opinions about the above verse. We have already mentioned the most significant of them in the different aspects we considered.
In the Arabic, the word ʿashiyyan (at nightfall) is used adverbially rather than the construct ḥīna tuẓhirūn (when you enter noontime) because the root ʿ-sh-y cannot be conjugated into a verb on the pattern of ifʿāl, unlike masāʾ (evening), ṣabāḥ (morning) and ẓahīra (noontime), all of which can be conjugated on this pattern to produce a verb with the meaning of entering this time of day. This is the opinion mentioned by some.
Also, the fact that these verbs use the plural pronoun—when you [pl.] enter evening… is not a case of transitioning (iltifāt) from one addressee to another. Rather, it represents a broadening of the address that was originally directed to the Prophet from the beginning of the verse. This renders the meaning: “If this is the case, then God is glorified when you human beings enter the evening, the morning, and at night, and when you enter noontime. And to Him belongs all the beautiful praise in the heavens and the earth.”
We can detect a similar broadening of the address in the verse …then you will be brought back to Him () and later, in the verse: …you [pl.] shall be raised.
يُخْرِجُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَيُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتَ مِنَ الْحَيِّ وَيُحْيِي الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا ۚ وَكَذَٰلِكَ تُخْرَجُونَ ١٩
(30:19) He brings forth the living from the dead, and brings forth the dead from the living, and revives the earth after its death. Likewise you shall be raised!
The apparent meaning of brings forth the living from the dead and the opposite is to create life from non-living earth and to transform living creatures into non-living earth. It has also been interpreted to mean creating the believer from the disbeliever and the disbeliever from the believer, where “living” signifies the believer and “dead” signifies the disbeliever.” This is akin to the verse: Is he who was lifeless, then We gave him life and provided him with a light by which he walks among the people, like one who dwells in a manifold darkness which he cannot leave? ()
As for revives the earth after its death, this means to bring forth verdant vegetation during spring and summer after the land had been barren in autumn and winter. Likewise you shall be raised means you will be brought forth from your graves and resurrected with a new life, just as the earth is given a new life after its death. We have already dealt with verses similar to the beginning and end of this one several times in our commentary.
Examining Narrations
- Concerning The Romans have been vanquished () Ibn ʿAbbās said: “They have been vanquished and will vanquish.” He explained: “The idolaters had hoped the Persians would defeat the Romans, because they were idol worshipers, while the Muslims had hoped that the Romans would defeat the Persians, because they were people of a divine scripture. They mentioned this to Abū Bakr, who mentioned it to God’s Messenger. God’s Messenger said: “Well, they shall vanquish [the Persians.]” Abū Bakr related this to them, and they said: “Set a tryst between you and us. If we win then we shall have such-and-such. If you win, you shall have such-and-such.” He set them a period of five years but they did not win. Abū Bakr mentioned this to God’s Messenger who said: “How long have you made it for?” He said: “Less than ten.” Then the Romans won after that. That was God’s saying: The Romans have been vanquished. They were vanquished but later they were the vanquishers.”
God says: All command belongs to Allah, before and after, and on that day the faithful will rejoice at Allah’s help (). Sufiyān said: “I heard that they were victorious on the day of the Battle of Badr.”
Author’s comment: There are a number of other narrations in the same meaning as these quoted here. According to some, the bet was between Abū Bakr and Ubayy b. Khalaf; according to others, it was between the Muslims and the idolaters, with Abū Bakr representing the former and Ubayy the latter; still others say that it was between two tribes; and others say that it was between Abū Bakr and the idolaters, as the narration quoted above indicates.
Then, the appointed time for this bet is three years in some, five, six or seven in others. Some narrations say that at first it was seven years and came to an end while the Muslims were still in Mecca, so Abū Bakr extended it with them for another two years at the Prophet’s command. Then the Romans were victorious. Other narrations say differently.
Once again, some narrations say that the extension ended while the Muslims were still in Mecca while others say it ended after the migration to Medina, and that the Roman victory was on the same day as the Battle of Badr, while others say it was on the same day as the Treaty of Ḥudaybiyya.
Some say that when the Romans were victorious and Abū Bakr won the bet he took the wager from them, which was a hundred camels, and took it to the Prophet who said: “It is ill-gotten, so give it as charity.”
However, what all narrations agree upon is that he made a bet with them which he won, and this bet was at the Prophet’s instructions. The explanation given for this is that the story took place before the prohibition on gambling came into effect; gambling was prohibited along with wine in Sūrah al-Māʾida, which was revealed towards the end of the Prophet’s life.
Readers will recall that when we dealt with the verse prohibiting wine and gambling we saw that wine was prohibited from the very beginning of the Prophet’s mission, and one of the things everyone knew about his religion was that it forbade wine and fornication.
However, wine and gambling are considered sinful in the following verse of Sūrah al-Baqara: They ask you concerning wine and gambling. Say: There is a great sin in both of them… () and sinfulness is forbidden according to the following verse of Sūrah al-Aʿrāf: Say: My Lord has only forbidden indecencies, the outward among them and the inward ones, and sin and undue aggression… (). Moreover, Sūrah al-Aʿrāf was revealed in Mecca. Therefore, it is impossible that the Prophet would ever approve of his followers engaging in gambling, let alone instruct them to do it!
And if one was to argue that it was only prohibited at the end of his life, then his statement to Abū Bakr when he brought the winnings is problematic. Why would he say: “It is ill-gotten, so give it as charity” if it is permissible? In short, there is no way we can deem any of this authentic based on the criteria of jurisprudence; those who consider them authentic have given tortuous explanations that only compound the problem.
On top of this, the narration that said the Persians were idol worshipers is historically inaccurate; even if they could be called polytheists, they did not worship idols.
- Concerning the verse, They know just an outward aspect of the life of the world, but they are oblivious of the Hereafter () Tafsīr al-Qummī says: They see what is in front of them of this world and pay no mind to the Hereafter.
- Imam al-Ṣādiq was once asked about the verse: Have they not travelled in the land…? He said: [It means] have they not considered the Qur’an?
- Concerning the verse, The day the Hour sets in, they will be divided on that day () Tafsīr al-Qummī says: Between heaven and hell.
The definite article al- in al-Rūm (“the” in the Romans) indicates that the subject of the verse is already known to the audience. ↩︎
In other words, its stains vanish and fall off from you. It should be noted that in this poem, the sense of disappearance is not conveyed by the root ẓ-h-r, but by the preposition ʿan (from, across, over). The masculine “you” is apparently an impersonal generic pronoun. The poem is by Abū Dhuʾayb al-Hudhalī (d. 27 AH, 648 CE), translated by T. Raja. (Ed.) ↩︎
Fate (ʿāqiba) is in the accusative because it is the predicate of kāna. The subject of kānā is misdeeds. The predicate is placed first here to signify exclusivity (ḥaṣr) [that is, “the fate of those who committed misdeeds was only…”]. (Auth.) ↩︎
Al-Durr al-Manthūr, on the authority of Aḥmad, al-Tirmidhī (who has authenticated it), al-Nasāʾī, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, al-Ṭabarānī’s al-Kabīr, al-Hākim (who has authenticated it), Ibn Mardawayh, al-Bayhaqī’s al-Dalāʾil and al-Ḍiyāʾ. ↩︎
Al-Khiṣāl. ↩︎