Ar-Room

الٓمٓ ۱

{ الم } الله أعلم بمراده بذلك.

Alif lām mīm: God knows best what He means by these [letters].

غُلِبَتِ ٱلرُّومُ ۲

{ غلبت الروم } وهم أهل الكتاب غلبتها فارس وليسوا أهل كتاب بل يعبدون الأوثان ففرح كفار مكة بذلك، وقالوا للمسلمين: نحن نغلبكم كما غلبت فارس الروم.

The Byzantines — who are among the People of the Scripture — have been vanquished; the Persians vanquished them, and they are not people of a scripture, but worship graven images. The Meccan disbelievers rejoiced in this [defeat of the Byzantines] and said to the Muslims, ‘We shall vanquish you as the Persians vanquished the Byzantines’;

فِىٓ أَدْنَى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَهُم مِّنۢ بَعْدِ غَلَبِهِمْ سَيَغْلِبُونَ ۳

{ فى أدنى الأرض } أي أقرب أرض الروم إلى فارس الجزيرة التقى فيها الجيشان والبادىء بالغزو الفرس { وهم } أي الروم { من بعد غلبهم } أضيف المصدر إلى المفعول: أي غلبة فارس إياهم { سيغلبون } فارس.

in the nearer [part of the] land, that is, in the Byzantine land [that lies] nearest to Persia in Mesopotamia (al-Jazīra). There the two armies met and the Persians were the ones who had begun the invasion. But they, that is the Byzantines, after their vanquishing (ghalabihim: the verbal noun [ghalab] has been annexed to the direct object [hum], in other words, ghalabatu fāris iyyāhum, ‘the Persians’ vanquishing of them’) shall be the victors, over the Persians,

فِى بِضْعِ سِنِينَ ۗ لِلَّهِ ٱلْأَمْرُ مِن قَبْلُ وَمِنۢ بَعْدُ ۚ وَيَوْمَئِذٍ يَفْرَحُ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ ۴

{ فى بضع سنين } هو ما بين الثلاث إلى التسع أو العشر فالتقى الجيشان في السنة السابعة من الالتقاء الأول وغلبت الروم فارس { لله الأمر من قبل ومن بعد } أي من قبل غلب الروم ومن بعده المعنى أن غلبة فارس أولا وغلبة الروم ثانيا بأمر الله: أي إرادته { ويومئذ } أي يوم تغلب الروم { يفرح المؤمنون }.

in a few years (bid‘, [usually means] between three and nine or ten years). So the two armies met again seven years after this former encounter and the Byzantines defeated the Persians. To God belongs the command before and after, that is, before the defeat of the Byzantines and thereafter, that is to say, the Persian victory at first and the Byzantine victory later were [the result of] God’s command, in other words, His will, and on that day, the day when the Byzantines will be victorious, the believers shall rejoice

بِنَصْرِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ يَنصُرُ مَن يَشَآءُ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ ۵

{ بنصر الله } إياهم على فارس وقد فرحوا بذلك وعلموا به يوم وقوعه يوم بدر بنزول جبريل بذلك فيه مع فرحهم بنصرهم على المشركين فيه { ينصر من يشاء وهو العزيز } الغالب { الرحيم } بالمؤمنين.

in God’s help, to them against the Persians. They [the believers] indeed rejoiced in this, as they came to know of it on the day that it took place, on the day of [the battle of] Badr, when Gabriel came down with this [news] thereon, in addition to their rejoicing in their victory over the idolaters on that [same] day. He helps whomever He will; and He is the Mighty, the Victor, the Merciful, to believers.

وَعْدَ ٱللَّهِ ۖ لَا يُخْلِفُ ٱللَّهُ وَعْدَهُۥ وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ۶

{ وعد الله } مصدر بدل من اللفظ بفعله، والأصل وعدهم الله النصر { لا يخلف الله وعده } به { ولكن أكثر الناس } أي كفار مكة { لا يعلمون } وعده تعالى بنصرهم.

The promise of God (wa‘da’Llāhi is the verbal noun substituting for the [full] verbal construction; it is actually wa‘adahumu’Llāhu al-nasr, ‘God promised them victory’). God does not fail His promise, of such [help], but most people, namely, the disbelievers of Mecca, are not aware, of His promise to help them [to victory].

يَعْلَمُونَ ظَـٰهِرًا مِّنَ ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ عَنِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ هُمْ غَـٰفِلُونَ ۷

{ يعلمون ظاهرا من الحيوة الدنيا } أي معايشها من التجارة والزراعة والبناء والغرس وغير ذلك { وهم عن الأخرة هم غفلون } إعادة «هم» تأكيد.

They know [merely] an outward aspect of the life of this world, that is to say, its various means of [securing] livelihood, such as commerce, agriculture, construction and cultivation and so on; but they, of the Hereafter, they are oblivious (this repetition of hum, ‘they’, is for emphasis).

أَوَلَمْ يَتَفَكَّرُوا۟ فِىٓ أَنفُسِهِم ۗ مَّا خَلَقَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَآ إِلَّا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَأَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى ۗ وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِّنَ ٱلنَّاسِ بِلِقَآئِ رَبِّهِمْ لَكَـٰفِرُونَ ۸

{ أولم يتفكروا فى أنفسهم } ليرجعوا عن غفلتهم { ما خلق الله السموات والأرض وما بينهما إلا بالحق وأجل مسمى } لذلك تفنى عند انتهائه وبعده البعث { وإن كثيرا من الناس } أي: كفار مكة { بلقائ ربهم لكفرون } أي لا يؤمنون بالبعث بعد الموت.

Have they not contemplated themselves?, so that they might emerge from their oblivion. God did not create the heavens and the earth, and what is between them, except with the truth and an appointed term, for that [creation], at the conclusion of which this [creation] will perish, and after which will be the Resurrection. But indeed many people, that is to say, [such as] the Meccan disbelievers, disbelieve in the encounter with their Lord, that is, they do not believe in resurrection after death.

أَوَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَيَنظُرُوا۟ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَـٰقِبَةُ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ ۚ كَانُوٓا۟ أَشَدَّ مِنْهُمْ قُوَّةً وَأَثَارُوا۟ ٱلْأَرْضَ وَعَمَرُوهَآ أَكْثَرَ مِمَّا عَمَرُوهَا وَجَآءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُم بِٱلْبَيِّنَـٰتِ ۖ فَمَا كَانَ ٱللَّهُ لِيَظْلِمَهُمْ وَلَـٰكِن كَانُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ ۹

{ أولم يسيروا فى الأرض فينظروا كيف كان عقبة الذين من قبلهم } من الأمم وهي إهلاكهم بتكذيبهم رسلهم { كانوا أشد منهم قوة } كعاد وثمود { وأثاروا الأرض } حرثوها وقلبوها للزرع والغرس { وعمروها أكثر مما عمروها } أي كفار مكة { وجاءتهم رسلهم بالبينات } بالحجج الظاهرات { فما كان الله ليظلمهم } بإهلاكهم بغير جرم { ولكن كانوا أنفسهم يظلمون } بتكذيبهم رسلهم.

Have they not travelled in the land and beheld how was the consequence for those before them?, of [past] communities, which was that they were destroyed for denying their messengers. They were more powerful than them — such were ‘Ād and Thamūd — and they effected the land, they tilled it and churned it up to sow crops and cultivate [trees], and developed it more than these, the Meccan disbelievers, have developed it; and their messengers brought them clear signs, manifest proofs, for God would never wrong them, by destroying them without being guilty, but they used to wrong themselves, by denying their messengers.

ثُمَّ كَانَ عَـٰقِبَةَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَسَـٰٓـُٔوا۟ ٱلسُّوٓأَىٰٓ أَن كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ وَكَانُوا۟ بِهَا يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ ۱۰

{ ثم كان عقبة الذين أسءا السوأى } تأنيث الأسوأ: الأقبح خبر كان على رفع عاقبة، واسم كان على نصب «عاقبة» والمراد بها جهنم وإساءتهم { أن } أي بأن { كذبوا بئايت الله } القرآن { وكانوا بها يستهزئون }.

Then the consequence for those who committed evil was evil (al-sū’ā is the feminine form of al-aswa’, ‘the worst’; [it may be read as] the predicate of kāna if one reads ‘āqibatu, in the nominative; or it is the subject of kāna if read as ‘āqibata, in the accusative; and so what is meant is Hell [in the former reading], or [according to the latter reading] simply their evil actions) because they denied the signs of God, the Qur’ān, and made a mock of them.

ٱللَّهُ يَبْدَؤُا۟ ٱلْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُۥ ثُمَّ إِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ ۱۱

{ الله يبدأ الخلق } أي: ينشىء خلق الناس { ثم يعيده } أي خلقهم بعد موتهم { ثم إليه ترجعون } بالتاء والياء.

God originates creation, in other words, He produces the creation of mankind, then He will reproduce it, that is, the creation of them, after their death, then to Him you shall be returned (read turja‘ūna; or yurja‘ūna, ‘they shall be returned’).

وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ ٱلسَّاعَةُ يُبْلِسُ ٱلْمُجْرِمُونَ ۱۲

{ ويوم تقوم الساعة يبلس المجرمون } يسكت المشركون لانقطاع حجتهم.

And on the Day when the Hour comes, the sinners will be dumbfounded, the idolaters will be fall into silence, as their [line of] argument can no longer be continued.