The thirty-fourth clip titled "Let's make our Thursdays Quranic" was released

Last Friday we completed Surah Ankabut and today we start with Surah Rum. Here are ayahs 1 to 5 of Surah Roum.

الم

غلبت الرّوم

فی أدْنى الْأرْض وهم مّن بعْد غلبهمْ سیغْلبون

فی بضْع سنین ۗ للّـه الْأمْر من قبْل ومن بعْد ۚ ویوْمئذٍ یفْرح الْمؤْمنون

بنصْر اللّـه ۚ ینصر من یشاء ۖ وهو الْعزیز الرّحیم

“Alif, Lām, Mīm.”

“Rome has 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”

“At Allah’s help. He helps whomever He wishes, and He is the All-Mighty, the All-Merciful.”

As we said at the beginning of Surah Baqarah, as well as the Surahs Aal-e Imran, A’raaf, Yunus, Hood, Ibrahim, Shua'ra, Ankabut, etc, 29 Surahs of the Holy Qur’an start with Horoof Muqatta’at or seemingly unarranged alphabets whose meaning is known only to God and His Prophet, although some exegetes have tried to interpret them. Surah Roum which we started now is one such Surah, and here God has used the alphabets Alif Lam Mim, at its start, similar to Surah Baqarah. This is among the marvels of the unmatched eloquence of the Holy Qur'an, which bewildered the infidels of the age of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). Today also, they continue to confound the disbelievers of our own days, who despite the advancement in science and technology, have failed to meet the divine challenge to bring about at least some phrases equal to those of the Holy Qur'an.

This Surah was revealed in Mecca and contains 60 verses. Similar to many Meccan Suras, the main subject in this Surah is ‘Origin and End’ and the statements of the believers and disbelievers are in this relation. A great part of the ayahs of this Surah is about the Divine bounties in the heaven and in the earth, the conjugality system in plants and animals, creation of man from dust, the relation between man and woman, effort in the day and sleep at night, the fall of rain, the winds, and the earth being revived after its death.

The Prophet has said: “Whoever recites Surah Roum, will be rewarded ten rewards as the number of every angel who glorifies Allah between the heaven, and the earth, and whatever he has lost in that day and night will be recompensed.”

The Prophet's 6th Infallible Heir, Imam Ja'far Sadeq (AS) has said: “Whoever recites the Surahs Ankabut and Roum in the month of Ramadhan on the twenty- third night, by Allah he will be admitted in Paradise, and I do not consider any exception in this word…(with the condition that he fulfils his religious duties)."

This Surah, as evident by its title "Roum" refers to the Roman Empire, since it begins with the prophecy of the victory of the Roman over the Sasanian Empire at a time when the Iranians had overrun the whole of Levant and Anatolia, threatening the Roman capital Constantinople itself, in addition to conquering Egypt – a matter that overjoyed the pagan Arabs and made them boast that as the Zoroastrians were about to humiliate the Christians they would also wipe out Islam and Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). God means to say that His Might and Powers prevails over all, and despite apparent victories on the ground, there is no guarantee that those who have apparent won will remain the victors. At Divine command the tide of the war will turn, and those who seem to be the losers, will emerge victorious. True to the promise of God the 26-year long war between the Romans and the Iranians ended with the defeat of the latter in 628 AD and the dethroning, imprisonment and killing of the Sassanid emperor, Khosrow Pervez the instigator of the war by his own son, Qobad II. As a matter of fact, the long war had exhausted both the Roman and Iranian empires, and within five years both the Byzantine and Sassanid dynasties collapsed before the might of a new power that emerged, that is, the Muslims.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. Prophecies of the future and the news of the unseen are among the miracles of God's final revelation to mankind, the holy Qur'an, in addition to its flawlessly eloquent language and the unmatched wisdom of its ayahs.
2. One should not become disappointed of failures, for; one should always be hopeful in God’s help.
3. God’s work is based on wisdom. Failure and victory of the faithful is also based on Divine Wisdom. Of course, the faithful should fulfil their duties but the result is not at their hand and is at Allah’s hand.

Now we listen to ayahs 6 and 7 of Surah Roum:

وعْد اللّـه ۖ لا یخْلف اللّـه وعْده ولـٰکنّ أکْثر النّاس لا یعْلمون

یعْلمون ظاهرًا مّن الْحیاة الدّنْیا وهمْ عن الْآخرة همْ غافلون

“[This is] a promise of Allah: Allah does not break His promise, but most people do not know.”

“They know just an outward aspect of the life of the world, but they are oblivious of the Hereafter.”

These ayahs say that do not doubt in the Promise of God since He never breaks His promise. The cause of breach of promises is either powerlessness, or ignorance, or regret, but Allah, the Almighty, the Aware, is free from all of them. In other words, those who do not have faith in God or their faith is weak, express doubts on God’s promises, since they do not have proper cognizance of Divine Power and Knowledge. They merely see the outward aspects of the life of the material world and make analyses, without regard to afterlife, and thus deprive themselves of Divine bounties. The world itself is not bad, but negligence of the Hereafter is bad. This ayah implies that these shortsighted people see only the outward of the life in this world but they are unaware of the Hereafter and the end of the affairs.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. Breach of promise is the result of inability, ignorance, and lack of faith in God Almighty and in afterlife.
2. Blind attachment to the world and material factors make persons narrow-minded, superficial, and superstitious.

Now we listen to ayah 8 of Surah Roum:

أولمْ یتفکّروا فی أنفسهم ۗ مّا خلق اللّـه السّماوات والْأرْض وما بیْنهما إلّا بالْحقّ وأجلٍ مّسمًّى ۗ وإنّ کثیرًا مّن النّاس بلقاء ربّهمْ لکافرون

“Have they not reflected in their own souls? Allah did not create the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them except with reason and for a specified term. Indeed many of the people disbelieve in the encounter with their Lord.”

Like several other ayahs of the holy Qur'an, this ayah invites mankind to think and ponder in the world of creation and calls on them to properly use their God-given intellect to contemplate on the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them. Can one believe that our life in this world ends and there is no hereafter? Contemplation is usually the medicine to cure the sickness of negligence. The consequence of safe and sound thought is strengthening belief in truth, facts and realities with the knowing that existence and Hereafter have an aim. On the other hand, the consequence of heedlessness and failure to cultivate proper beliefs and the righteous faith, is often disbelief and denial of Resurrection.

The words in the previous ayah were about those who see only the surface of the things and whose thoughts are limited to observing this world and the world of matter and they are not aware of the Hereafter. This ayah, as well as those that follow it, mention some various matters around the Origin and Resurrection, of which we will discuss in our next week's edition of Path towards Enlightenment.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. Islam has invited mankind to think, contemplate and ponder on the world of creation, in order to build faith on firm foundations with proper knowledge and the correct cognizance of the Almighty Creator and afterlife.
2. Creation of the world has a goal and specified term.
3. Denial of the Resurrection lacks any logical reasoning and is the result of blind attachment to the material world and indulgence in sins that creates a fear of the consequences that entail death.