Tafseer of The Romans · Ar-Room · 30:2
The Byzantines have been defeated
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
And His statement: غُلِبَتِ الرُّومُ فِي أَدْنَى الأرْضِ ("The Romans have been defeated in the nearest land") (30:2). The reciters differed over its recitation. The general reciters of the provinces recited it as غُلِبَتِ الرُّومُ (ghulibati l-Rūm) with a ḍamma on the ghīn, with the meaning that Persia has defeated the Romans.
It has been related from Ibn ʿUmar and Abū Saʿīd concerning that, what Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of al-Ḥasan al-Jufrī, on the authority of Sulayṭ, who said: I heard Ibn ʿUmar reciting الم غَلَبَتِ الرُّومُ (Alif Lām Mīm, ghalabati l-Rūm — "the Romans have conquered"), whereupon it was said to him: "O Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, over what did they conquer?" He said: "Over the fertile land of al-Shām (Syria)."
And the correct recitation in this, according to us, is that beyond which nothing else is permissible, namely الم غُلِبَتِ الرُّومُ (Alif Lām Mīm, ghulibati l-Rūm) with a ḍamma on the ghīn, on account of the consensus of the authoritative proof of the reciters concerning it. And if that is so, then the interpretation of the statement is: Persia has defeated the Romans.
