الم
Alif. Lām. Mīm. (1)
غُلِبَتِ الرُّومُ
DEFEATED have been the Byzantines (2)
فِي أَدْنَى الْأَرْضِ وَهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ غَلَبِهِمْ سَيَغْلِبُونَ
in the lands close-by; yet it is they who, notwithstanding this their defeat, shall be victorious (3)
فِي بِضْعِ سِنِينَ لِلَّهِ الْأَمْرُ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَمِنْ بَعْدُ وَيَوْمَئِذٍ يَفْرَحُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ
within a few years: [for] with God rests all power of decision, first and last. And on that day will the believers [too, have cause to] rejoice (4)
بِنَصْرِ اللَّهِ يَنْصُرُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ
in God's succour: [for] He gives succour to whomever He wills, since He alone is almighty, a dispenser of grace. (5)
وَعْدَ اللَّهِ لَا يُخْلِفُ اللَّهُ وَعْدَهُ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
[This is] God's promise. Never does God fail to fulfil His promise – but most people know [it] not: (6)
يَعْلَمُونَ ظَاهِرًا مِنَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ عَنِ الْآخِرَةِ هُمْ غَافِلُونَ
they know but the outer surface of this world's life, whereas of the ultimate things they are utterly unaware. (7)
أَوَلَمْ يَتَفَكَّرُوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ وَأَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنَ النَّاسِ بِلِقَاءِ رَبِّهِمْ لَكَافِرُونَ
Have they never learned to think for themselves? God has not created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them without [an inner] truth and a term set [by Him]: and yet, behold, there are many people who stubbornly deny the truth that they are destined to meet their Sustainer! (8)
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 يَظْلِمُونَ
Have they, then, never journeyed about the earth and beheld what happened in the end to those [deniers of the truth] who lived before their time? Greater were they in power than they are; and they left a stronger impact on the earth, and built it up even better than these [are doing]; and to them [too] came their apostles with all evidence of the truth: and so, [when they rejected the truth and thereupon perished,] it was not God who wronged them, but it was they who had wronged themselves. (9)
ثُمَّ كَانَ عَاقِبَةَ الَّذِينَ أَسَاءُوا السُّوأَىٰ أَنْ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَكَانُوا بِهَا يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ
And once again: evil is bound to be the end of those who do evil by giving the lie to God's messages and deriding them. (10)
- within a few years: [for with God rests all power of decision, first and last.2 And on that day will the believers [too, have cause to] rejoice
- 2 Lit., "before and after". The defeats and victories spoken of above relate to the last phases of the centuries-long struggle between the Byzantine and Persian Empires. During the early years of the seventh century the Persians conquered parts of Syria and Anatolia, "the lands close-by", i.e., near the heartland of the Byzantine Empire; in 613 they took Damascus, and in 614, Jerusalem; Egypt fell to them in 615-16, and at the same time they laid siege to Constantinople itself. At the time of the revelation of this surah - about the seventh year before the hijrah, corresponding to 615 or 616 of the Christian era - the total destruction of the Byzantine Empire seemed imminent. The few Muslims around the Prophet were despondent on hearing the news of the utter discomfiture of the Byzantines, who were Christians and, as such, believed in the One God. The pagan Quraysh, on the other hand, sympathized with Persians who, they thought, would vindicate their own opposition to the One-God idea. When Muhammad enunciated the above Qur'an-verses predicting a Byzantine victory "within a few years", this prophecy was received with derision by the Quraysh. Now the term bid' (commonly rendered as "a few") denotes any number between three and ten; and, as it happened, in 622 - i.e., six or seven years after the Qur'anic prediction - the tide turned in favour of the Byzantines. In that year, Emperor Heraclius succeeded in defeating the Persians at Issus, south of the Taurus Mountains, and subsequently drove them out of Asia Minor. By 624, he carried the war into Persian territory and thus put the enemy on the defensive; and in the beginning of December, 626, the Persian armies were completely routed by the Byzantines.
- Within a few years.3507 With Allah is the Decision, in the past and in the Future: on that Day shall the Believers rejoice-3508
- 3507 Bid' in the text means a short period-a period of from three to nine years. The period between the loss of Jerusalem (614-15 A.C.) by the Romans and their victory at Issus (622 A.C.) was seven years, and that to the penetration of Persia by Heraclius was nine years. See last note.
- 3508 See n. 3506 and Appendix VIII. The battle of Badr (2 A.H. = 624 A.C.) was a real time of rejoicing for the Believers and a time of disillusionment for the arrogant Quraysh, who thought that they could crush the whole movement of Islam in Madinah as they had tried to do in Makkah, but they were signally repulsed. Seen. 352 to 3:13.
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Within a few years. With Allah is the Decision, in the past and in the Future: on that Day shall the Believers rejoice-
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
Within ten years - Allah's is the command in the former case and in the latter - and in that day believers will rejoice
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
Within a few years. Allah's is the command before and after; and on that day the believers shall rejoice,
— M. Habib Shakir -
Within three to nine years. The decision of the matter, before and after (these events) is only with Allah, (before the defeat of Romans by the Persians, and after, i.e. the defeat of the Persians by the Romans). And on that Day, the believers (i.e. Muslims) will rejoice (at the victory given by Allah to the Romans against the Persians),
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
In some few years. Allah's is the command, before and after. And on that day the believers wiil rejoice.
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
To Allah belongs the Command before and after, and on that Day the believers will rejoice
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
in a few years; to God belongs the affair before and after; and on that day the Believers shall rejoice
— Ayub Khan -
In a few years -- God's is the dominion before and after that -- and on that day the believers will rejoice
— Sher Ali -
within a few years: [for] with God rests all power of decision, first and last.
And on that day will the believers [too, have cause to] rejoice
— Muhammad Asad -
in a few years. To God belongs the Command before and after, and on that day the believers shall rejoice
— Arthur Arberry -
All power belongs to Allah both before and after.{{2}} On that day will the believers rejoice
— Abu'l Ala Maududi