Tafseer of The Romans · Ar-Room · 30:5
In the victory of Allah. He gives victory to whom He wills, and He is the Exalted in Might, the Merciful.
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.
That is the saying of Allah: ( and on that day the believers will rejoice at the help of Allah; He helps whom He wills ) — on the day when it turned in favor of the Romans against Persia.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq al-Fazārī, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī ʿAmra, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: ( Alif Lām Mīm. The Romans have been defeated ). He said: They were defeated (ghulibat) and they were victorious (ghalabat). As for those who read it as (ghalabat al-Rūm) — "the Romans were victorious" — with a fatḥa on the ghayn, they said: This verse was revealed as a notification from Allah to His Prophet ﷺ concerning the victory of the Romans.
* Mention of who said that:
Naṣr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Sulaymān — that is, al-Aʿmash — on the authority of ʿAṭiyya, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd, who said: When the day came on which the Romans were victorious over Persia, that pleased the believers, and then was revealed ( Alif Lām Mīm. The Romans were victorious ) over Persia.
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd, who said: On the day of Badr the Romans were victorious over Persia, and at that the Muslims rejoiced. Then Allah revealed ( Alif Lām Mīm. The Romans … ) to the end of the verse.
Yaḥyā ibn Ibrāhīm al-Masʿūdī related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd, who said: On the day of Badr the Romans were victorious over Persia, and that pleased the believers, because they were People of the Book. Then Allah revealed ( Alif Lām Mīm. The Romans have been defeated in the nearby land ). He said: They had been defeated before that. Then he continued reciting until he reached ( and on that day the believers will rejoice at the help of Allah ).
And His saying: ( in the nearby land ) — I have already mentioned the saying of some concerning it earlier, and I mention the saying of those whom I have not yet mentioned.
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his saying: ( in the nearby land ). He says: in a corner of al-Shām. The meaning of His word adnā is: the nearest, and it is a comparative form (afʿal) of al-dunuww and al-qurb (nearness). Its meaning is only: in the part of the land that is nearest to Persia; and the mention of Persia has been omitted, because it could be dispensed with on account of the indication that follows from His word ( in the nearby land ) pointing to it. And His saying: ( and they, after their defeat ). He says: and the Romans, after the victory of Persia over them, will be victorious over Persia.
And His saying: ( after their defeat — min baʿdi ghalabihim ) is a verbal noun (maṣdar) from the saying of one who says: ghalabtuhu ghalbatan ("I defeated him with a defeat"); the hāʾ (of ghalbatan) has been omitted. It is said: min baʿdi ghalabihim, and one does not say min baʿdi ghalabatihim, because of the iḍāfa (genitive construction), just as the [tāʾ] was omitted from His saying وَإِقَامَ الصَّلاةِ (and the performance of prayer), because of the iḍāfa; for the [original] expression is: wa-iqāmati al-ṣalāh.
And as for His saying ( sayaghlibūna — they will be victorious ): the reciters are all in agreement upon the fatḥa on the yāʾ therein. But it is obligatory, according to the recitation of whoever reads ( Alif Lām Mīm. ghalabat al-Rūm — the Romans were victorious ) with a fatḥa on the ghayn, that he read His saying ( sayughlabūna ) with a ḍamma on the yāʾ, so that the meaning becomes: and they, after their victory over Persia, will be defeated by the Muslims — so that the meaning of the saying is sound. Otherwise the saying would have little meaning if the yāʾ were read with a fatḥa, for then the notification about what has already been would pass over into a notification about what will be, and that is the corrupting of the one notification by the other.
And His saying: ( in a few years — fī biḍʿi sinīn ): we have already mentioned earlier the disagreement of the exegetes concerning the meaning of al-biḍʿ, and we have brought forward the correct of their sayings, in a manner that relieves us from repetition in this place.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam ibn Bashīr related to us, saying: Khallād ibn Aslam al-Ṣaffār related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĪsā, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, who said: I asked him: What is al-biḍʿ? He said: The People of the Book claim that it is nine or seven.
And as for His saying: ( To Allah belongs the command, both before and after ): al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, his saying: ( To Allah belongs the command, before ) — the dominion of Persia over the Romans — ( and after ) — the dominion of the Romans over Persia.
And as for His saying: ( and on that day the believers will rejoice at the help of Allah; He helps whom He wills ): we have already mentioned earlier the report concerning its interpretation, and we have clarified its meaning.
