The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 583
PT. 21 AR-RŪM CH. 30 فِي بِضْعِ سِنِينَ لِلَّهِ الْأَمْرُ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَمِنْ In a few years Allah's is. 5 the command before and after that and on that day the believers will rejoice, 2991 2991. Important Words: "3:155; 13:32. (a few) is derived from (bada'a). They say i. e. he cut it; he cut it into pieces; he cut it length- wise. means, a part or portion of the night; a time thereof. They say Ji. e. a part of the night passed. The word also denotes a variety of numbers such as five, seven, ten, etc. , but is generally understood to mean from three to nine. J means from three to nine men. means, from three to nine years (Lane & Aqrab). Commentary: In order fully to appreciate the significance of this and the preceding two verses it is necessary to cast a cursory glance over the political conditions that obtained in the two great Empires that lay on the borders of Arabia the Persian and the Roman Empires-shortly before the advent of the Holy Prophet of Islam. They were at war with each other. The first round had gone in favour of the Persians whose tide of conquest began in 602 A. D. , when in order to avenge the death of Maurice, his patron and benefactor, at the hands of Phocas, Chosroes II started the war with Rome. For twenty years the Roman Empire was overrun by Persian armies as it had never been before. The Persian armies plundered Syria and Asia Minor and in 608 A. D. بَعْدُ وَيَوْمَذٍ يَفْرَحُ الْمُؤْمِنُوْنَ ) advanced to Chalcedon. Damascus was taken in 613. The surrounding country on which no Persian had ever set foot since the founding of the of Empire was utterly and completely laid waste. In June 614 Jerusalem was also captured. The whole Christendom was horrified by the news that together with the Patriarch the Persians had carried off the cross of Christ. Christianity had been humbled in the dust. The flood of Persian conquest, however, did not stop with the capture of Jerusalem. Egypt was next conquered, Asia Minor again overrun, and the Persian armies were knocking at the very gates of Constantinople. The Romans could offer but little resistance as they were torn by internal dissensions. The humiliation of Heraclius was complete that "Chosroes wanted to see him brought in chains to the foot of his throne and was not prepared to give him peace till he had abjured his crucified god and embraced the worship of the sun" (Historians' History of the World, vol. 7, p. 159, vol. 8, pp. 94-95 & Enc. Brit. under "Chosroes" II & "Heraclius"). This state of affairs very much grieved the Muslims as they had much in common with the Romans who were the "People of the Book". But the Quraish of Mecca who, like the Persians, were idolaters, feigned to 2497 SO